


Into the Future

by katyassss



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Lawyer Santana, More tags to be added, NYC squad, Writer Quinn, dance teacher Brittany, kinda a slow burn for faberry, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:06:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 53,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26653393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katyassss/pseuds/katyassss
Summary: Set post finale. Brittany and Santana's journey to start their family while Quinn and Rachel finally admit they had a thing for each other.
Relationships: Quinn Fabray & Santana Lopez & Brittany S. Pierce, Rachel Berry & Quinn Fabray, Rachel Berry & Santana Lopez, Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez & Brittany S. Pierce, Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce, past Rachel Berry/Jesse St. James
Comments: 25
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has been living rent free in my head since the quarantine started. Hope y'all enjoy this world I'm creating.

They were already going to be late because even though they have been married for going on five years, they still couldn’t keep their hands off each other. The pair was back in Lima for the weekend for the renaming of the auditorium at McKinley to honor Finn. While they still saw some of their old classmates who lived in New York, Brittany was excited to see those people who she hasn’t seen for a while.

“San, we are going to miss everyone if you don’t hurry up,” Brittany yelled towards her childhood bathroom. She didn’t know what was taking her wife so long, she always looked perfect, no matter how long she spent getting ready.

“Babe, you know that I love to make an entrance and we both know Berry won’t let them start until we are there,” Santana said as she walked out of the bathroom as she finished putting her earring on. Santana leaned down and placed a quick peck on Brittany’s lips. “But I’m ready now so let’s go.”

Quickly hopping off the bed, Brittany grabbed Santana’s hand and dragged her to the car.

* * *

McKinley hadn’t changed much from the last time the pair had been there five years before. Other than the obvious regime change and making sure that the glee club was safe forever the hallways were the same as the days when they walked them.

But some things had changed, all of them for the better though. Santana was finally out and proud and married to the person she was meant to be with. She had also patched up her relationship with Rachel and while they weren’t each other's best friends (Brittany would always be hers), they were close friends.

Santana was in her final year of law school at Columbia and as Brittany had put it multiple times was about to be the ‘hottest and most sexy lawyers ever’ and while Santana didn’t argue with Brittany, the comments always made her blush. Brittany on the other had decided post wedding that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life solving the hardest equations known to man. Once they moved back to New York, Brittany decided to go back to her dancer roots and enrolled at Juilliard. She had been out of school for the last two years and had opened a studio with one of her friends from school. She was doing the thing she loved while helping train the dancers of tomorrow.

As the pair approached the auditorium faint voices could be heard. Brittany immediately started walking faster, dragging Santana with her.

“I told you they would start without us,” the blonde said.

Santana let out a huff, stopping her wife before they entered the room. “Britt, they weren’t doing it to leave us out. If I had to guess Berry tried to get them to wait until we got here but Hummel was panicked about leaving the baby with Carole for more than an hour,” Santana said looking back at the blue eyes she loved more than anything. “Now we are going to walk in there and show these losers why we are the best things that came out of this crappy school,” the brunette said punctuating her thought with a kiss.

“Don’t let Rachel hear you say that or else we might have another diva fight on our hands,” Brittany said with her forehead resting against her wifes. Santana let out a small laugh as she dragged Brittany into the auditorium.

* * *

The first person to acknowledge the couple post song was surprisingly Rachel.

“I knew you guys would make it but no one listened to me when I said we should wait for you,” the tiny brunette said as she embraced Brittany.

“We would have been on time if it wasn’t for this one and her obsession for making an entrance,” she said pointing to Santana. Santana let out a small laugh as she pulled Rachel into a hug.

“I don’t know why you are acting like you haven’t seen us in ages, we had dinner together the day before we came out here,” Santana said.

“I know that but I didn’t want you to miss anything,” Rachel said, releasing Santana from the hug.

“Did we miss something?” Tina said. “Last time we were all together the two of you were barely speaking.” I

t was true. Even though Rachel was involved in Brittany and Santana’s wedding, they were still not on the best of terms. Brittany, ever the genius, made the pair sit down and talk everything out. The blonde knew that her wife had missed the tiny actress even if she didn’t want to say it out loud. Rachel and Santana were both strong willed and stubborn but once they talked everything out the pair realized that they both were partially in the wrong and were able to get their friendship back on track. Santana let out a breathy laugh, knowing the questions were bound to come. She was actually surprised that Tina was able to last this long.

“The Hobbit and I made up years ago, thank you very much,” Santana said, sliding her arm behind her wife.

“Yes, Santana and I reconciled and realized that even though at times our personalities were far too similar which often led to clashes, at the end of the day we talked it out and have been very good friends since then.” Rachel leaned into Jesse and to everyone who wasn’t around the pair everyday but the Lopez-Pierce’s knew that the St. James’ were showing everyone why they were Tony Award winners.

When Rachel had volunteered to be the surrogate for Blaine and Kurt, Jesse had been supportive of Rachel. But as her pregnancy had progressed, Jesse had become more and more withdrawn, upset that Rachel was willing to help one of her friends from high school but wouldn’t talk about starting a family of their own.

Other than Brittany and Santana, the only person who knew about the marital problems that Rachel and Jesse were going through oddly enough was Quinn. After she graduated from Yale with her degree in writing, she had moved to New York to attend graduate school at Columbia.

During her first week on campus Quinn ran into Santana. Things were somewhat awkward between the former cheerleaders. Santana had been heartbroken when one of her best friends hadn’t showed up to her wedding. The pair had agreed to meet up for coffee the next day and after a long conversation including Quinn explaining that she had tried her hardest to get to the wedding but nothing seemed to be going right for her, the pair made up.

With Quinn being back in the Lopez-Pierce’s life, it meant also being back in Rachel’s. The cheerleader and actress might not have ever used their Metro Passes like they had promised each other but they were quick to forgive each other and started to build their friendship up.

Rachel had broke the news about her relationship to the small group during one of the infamous girls nights that Brittany and Santana hosted. She had explained that her and Jesse hadn’t slept in the same room since right before Kurt and Blaine’s daughter had been born and how Jesse was spending more and more nights out late with the people from his show. Rachel never told Kurt and Blaine what was going on because she didn’t want them to feel as if they were the reason their friends' marriage was ending.

She was more than aware that her marriage was falling apart but she didn’t want to give up sooner than necessary. The last time Santana had broached the subject with her friend Rachel had said that in the public eye they were still going strong but behind closed doors they were considering ending it.

Rachel had asked Santana for a recommendation for a divorce attorney knowing she would need it sooner rather than later. That had been two weeks ago. A week before everyone was scheduled to be back in Ohio, Brittany got a phone call from a sobbing Rachel saying that her and Jesse were officially done. Rachel had begged Brittany and Santana not to tell anyone and the former cheerleaders promised they would keep it between them.

Jesse had moved out the pairs apartment a few days before making the trek back to Ohio and the couple had agreed that until the divorce was final they were still still to act happy together. They were the Broadway it couple and they had a public face they had to show.

Santana had to admit that right in that moment in the auditorium, you couldn’t tell that they were actually going through with the divorce. Rachel was smiling and Jesse had been just as affectionate towards Rachel as they were before the divorce.

“How about we move this party to Breadstix?” Mercedes asked eyeing Santana.

“As much as I would love to consume my body weight in some heavenly breadsticks, Britt and I are going to have to pass Wheezy,” Santana said. “We are flying out tomorrow and we promised my parents we would get an early brunch with them before we left.”

“Yeah Mercedes I think Jesse and I are going to pass too. We are flying home early tomorrow so we need to get back to my dad’s place and finish packing,” Rachel stated.

“Well suit yourselves then,” Mercedes said as her and the rest of the group started to head out. They made sure to say goodbye to the two couples before they headed out the doors.

After the majority of people left, the only people that remained were the St. James’, the Lopez-Pierces and Quinn.

“So was it as awkward seeing your ex as you thought it would be?” Santana asked the blonde. Quinn and Puck had lasted for a few months after everyone had come back when they had thought Sue had killed it once and for all. But with Puck being so far away all the time things fell apart quickly. Quinn had broken up with Puck and despite the many times he has tried to get back together since then the blonde had remained serious that she didn’t want to get back with him.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was but I just know that when I get to the restaurant he is going to try again and I just wish I had an excuse to not go,” Quinn said.

“You have one of the best excuses to shut him down now,” Santana said back. Post breakup Quinn had confided in her friends that she didn’t think she ever wanted to date another man in her life. Cut to four months later and Quinn had met a girl at a coffee shop on campus and had dated her for a good nine months.

“I know I do S but blurting out that I’m gay is not the way I wanted to come out to my old friends from high school,” Quinn groaned.

“Well suit yourself then,” Santana said as she pulled out her phone.

“When are you flying home Q?” Brittany asked.

“Monday. I decided that I wanted to tell my mom before I went home. Plus telling her now gives her enough time to maybe start accepting me by Thanksgiving,” she shrugged.

“Well if it doesn’t go well Quinn you can call me,” Rachel said. “I’ll be here though Monday night and if you need me I’ll be here.”

“If you aren’t leaving until Monday why did you tell everyone that you had an early flight tomorrow?” Quinn asked.

“I have to be home by Monday,” Jesse said, reacting quick on his feet, not wanting to spill the details about how they flew here separately. “My show is bringing in a new cast member so I have to be there for rehearsal.”

“And since Jane Austen Sings! closed a few weeks ago I decided to spend an extra day with my dad,” Rachel said. “We just thought it would be easier to say we were leaving together so no one tries to plan anything tomorrow.”

“Well if you are going to be with your dads I don’t want to bug you,” Quinn said. “I know how much you miss them when you are in the city.”

“Honestly Quinn it is no worries. You are my friend and you might need me tomorrow so I will be there for you, that is what friends do,” Rachel said approaching the blonde.

“Well I really appreciate it,” Quinn said, hugging Rachel.

“Are we done with this love fest yet? Because I would really like to go home and get my mack on with my beautiful wife,” Santana said, punctuating her thought with a kiss on Brittany’s lips.

“Can you not go two minutes without saying something like that S?” Quinn said.

“When you find a wife who is as hot as Brittany is you tell me,” Santana said.

“We really should be going though,” Brittany said.

“Especially you Q, everyone is probably wondering where you are.”

“Yeah I guess you are right,” Quinn said. The group quickly made plans for girls night when they were all back in the city and after some quick goodbyes went their separate ways.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quinn comes out to her mom and Rachel has some news of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the feedback on chapter 1! I really appreciate all the love and support especially since this is the first time I've actually published my fics. 
> 
> Anywho this is a Faberry chapter but Brittana will return in the next chapter!

Quinn was tired. Not only was she tired physically, but mentally she was at wits end. She was currently sitting in her car after telling Judy that she was never going to marry a man and that she was gay. 

It went about as well as she thought it would, at least there wasn’t any screaming. Judy was convinced that this was just another phase that her daughter was going through despite Quinn’s protest that marrying a man was never going to happen. 

Judy had said she was going to need some time to process everything which was to be expected. Quinn told her it was fine and that she was heading back to New York the next day. 

The blonde was pulled out of her thoughts by her vibrating phone. She picked it up and was greeted by a picture of herself and Rachel from one of the many girls nights they had. Brittany had taken the photo without telling the pair. They both had been drinking and Rachel was nearly sitting on Quinns lap. The pair was laughing at something someone had said. 

“Hey Rach, what’s up,” Quinn asked, trying to keep things as casual as possible. 

“I know you were coming out to your mom today and I hadn’t heard from you yet so I thought I would call you and check on you,” Rachel said quickly. 

Quinn let out a shaky laugh. 

“It went just as well as I could have hoped,” she started. “She didn’t totally disown me so that's a plus.” 

“Well that is good I guess,” Rachel said back. “Where are you right now?” 

“Sitting in my car in the driveway of my moms. I just needed a few minutes to get my thoughts in order,” the blonde said. 

“Well I think you should come to my dad’s house instead of sitting there all day like some form of stalker,” Rachel said. 

“I don’t want to be a bother,” Quinn started. “I know you were looking forward to spending some time with your dad since you don’t get to see them that much.”

“Quinn, you are never a bother,” Rachel said. “Plus my dad forgot he had to meet a friend from work for some reason so I’m at home alone.” 

“If you really insist on me coming over I guess I’ll be over in a few,” Quinn said. 

“Good. I’ll expect you in the next twenty minutes,” Rachel said as the line went dead. 

Even though Rachel had grown up a lot since high school, her getting her ways with her friends was something that didn’t change. Quinn finally started her car and backed it out of her mom’s driveway and towards Rachel. 

Getting to Rachel’s dad’s house took Quinn less time than she thought it would. She thought about sitting in her car a little bit longer but a text from Rachel telling her the front door was unlocked was reason enough for Quinn to get out of her car. 

If someone had told her 16-year old self that she would consider Rachel Berry to be one of her closest friends by the time she was 23 she would have laughed in their face. But the pair had grown up since their time in high school. 

Even though she still had her diva tendencies, her TV show disaster and brief stint in charge of the New Directions had really calmed Rachel down. Something about getting knocked down a few pegs had made it easier for Quinn to be around the brunette. 

She had grown up too. Being away from Lima for four years while at Yale was eye opening, not only did she realize that part of the reason none of her relationships worked out was because she had been repressing a huge part of who she truly was but she learned to accept herself and begin to work on loving herself. She still had her bad days but there were more good than bad days with her friends around. 

As Quinn entered the house she could faintly hear music coming from the kitchen directing her to where Rachel was bound to be. 

Rachel was humming along to some song that was on the radio. She had noticed it back in high school but there was something about Rachel that was so beautiful when she thought no one was around. It was like she stopped trying to be Miss Perfect for everyone and instead she was just Rachel. 

Quinn didn’t want to scare Rachel that much so she just cleared her throat to alert the brunette of her presence.

“Hey you got here sooner than I thought you would,” Rachel said turning to look at the blonde. “I hope you didn’t break any traffic laws to get here,” she said with a small laugh. 

“You know I would never. I learned that mistake once,” Quinn said back with a laugh. It became easier for her to talk about her accident as the years went on. It helped that she only drove when she was back home. There was no need for her to own a car living in New York. 

“I know you wouldn’t, I just like to tease you,” Rachel said. “I was just making some popcorn and was going to see if you would want to watch a movie?”   


Quinn flashed a small smile at Rachel. “I’d love that. As long as we don’t watch Funny Girl. You’ve made us watch it so much back home I feel like I could play Fanny one day.” 

“Quinn you and I both know you would never be able to pull it off vocally, you always were an alto when we were in school,” Rachel said as she led Quinn to the living room. “But I was going to let you pick since you are the guest.”

“Why don’t we just pick together, I know you aren’t a fan of the movies I usually like,” Quinn said sitting down on the sofa. 

Rachel quickly agreed and the pair decided on watching Oceans 8 with Cate Blanchett. The movie had been on for about 15 minutes before Rachel broke the silence. 

“How did it go with your mom?” she asked as she put a piece of popcorn in her mouth. 

Quinn let out a deep sign and ran her hand through her hair. 

“It could have been better but it also could have been worse. She said she wasn’t going to disown me because she made a promise that she would always be there for me after the whole situation with my dad but she also asked if I was sure I was gay or if I just hadn’t found the right guy yet. But she did ask if I was still planning on staying in New York for Thanksgiving this year so at least she thinks she will have processed it by then.” 

“And what did you say to that?” 

“I told her probably and then asked her why she cared because I’ve been spending Thanksgiving with you, San and B in the city for the last few years. Apparently Frannie and her husband are coming here for this year instead of my mom going to their house and she wanted me to see if we could patch up our relationship.”

“I know I wouldn’t mind if you skipped this year so you could be with your family. I’m sure Santana and Brittany wouldn’t mind either.” 

“It’s not that I would be ditching you guys, it's just— Frannie. She sided with my dad when I got pregnant with Beth and then when my mom told her that she was getting a divorce she got upset that my mom would just leave my dad like that. She always jumped to his side and I just don’t know if I could deal with her especially when she finds out I’m gay.” 

“When are you going to tell her?” Rachel asked, turning her body so she could take in Quinns whole appearance. 

“I’m not,” Quinn said, reaching her hand into the bowl Rachel was still holding. “I know my mom and Frannie were able to make up and they talk weekly, so I told my mom she could tell Frannie the next time she talked to her. Plus I don’t have a way to contact her and that’s not a conversation I want to have with my sister I haven’t talked to in years.” 

Silence fell on the pair. Quinn went back to watching the movie while Rachel just kept looking at the former cheerleader. 

“Quinn, I’m going to ask you a question and I need you to be completely honest when you answer. If your sexuality wasn’t an issue, would you want to see your sister?” 

Quinn turned her attention from the TV to the brunette. Her hazel eyes looked deep into the brown ones staring back at her. 

“I mean maybe. My mom mentioned that Frannie and her husband have a two year old daughter and how I should meet my niece and try and be in her life in some capacity.” 

“Well there’s a good reason for you to go then,” Rachel said. “At least think about it. And not like saying you will think about it and then not thinking about it at all. Actually think about it. You coming back for Thanksgiving might be the first step in getting a relationship back with your sister.” Rachel said putting some more popcorn in her mouth. 

“Fine I will actually think about it,” Quinn said. 

Silence overtook the pair again but Quinn broke it the next time. 

“What are you and Jesse doing for the holidays this year? Spending Christmas with his parents in some tropic paradise or are you guys doing something with your dads for Hanukkah?” 

“Umm Jesse and I aren’t doing anything this year,” she said back. 

“Why not? It's not like you will have to take time off from a show, and your workshop for that new musical doesn't start until January. Can Jesse not take time off from his show or something?” 

Rachel really had been meaning to tell Quinn about the divorce for a while but every time she had meant to tell her friend something had come up. The first time it was Quinn getting a job as a copy editor at a publishing house in New York and then there was the lunch date they went on but the news of the rededication of the auditorium had been the hot topic. 

“Quinn, Jesse and I are getting a divorce. Things haven’t been good for a while and we just want each other to be happy again.” 

Quinn felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. The pair had looked so happy a few days ago but they both were award winning actors so it was no surprise that they would have been able to fool everyone. 

“That’s why he flew home before you isn’t it?” Quinn asked. 

Rachel nodded back to her friend. 

“Does anyone else know? I bet Santana can help you find a good lawyer so you can take everything from him.” 

“Santana and Brittany know and so do my dads. I’ve been meaning to tell you for the last few weeks but every time I went to tell you something else came up. I hope you aren’t mad that I’m telling you now.” 

“No it’s fine,” Quinn said back. “The last few weeks have been wild so I get it. I’m a little upset I’m the last to know but I’m glad I heard it from you and not some trashy magazine.” 

“You aren’t the last to know. I still haven’t told Kurt and Blaine yet,” Rachel said. 

“Rachel, I’m going to ask you a question and you need to be completely honest with me,” Quinn said echoing the words Rachel had said to her earlier. “Is Tracy the reason you and Jesse are splitting up, because if she is, I will have Santana go all Lima Heights on his ass.” 

Rachel let out a small laugh. “Me being their surrogate is a big part of the reason yes but not the whole thing. This hasn’t been announced yet but there is going to be a West End transfer of Jesse’s show and he is going to go to London to originate the role again. He just assumed I would follow him to England but when I told him I didn’t want to, it turned into a big thing.” 

Quinn sat with her friend and took it all in. While she was still hesitant about Jesse when Rachel got back together with him, she pushed it to the back of her mind. Her friend was happy and that was all that mattered. But she was now seeing that while Rachel and herself had grown up since high school Jesse was still the same self-centered asshole that she knew he was back then. 

“I shouldn’t be depressing you with my failed marriage,” Rachel said wiping an errant tear from her cheek. “I invited you over to watch a movie and spend some time together, not cry.” 

“Hey Rach it’s fine. You listened to me rant about my mom and sister, the least I can do is listen to your problems. Now get over here and give me a hug because I can tell you need one.” 

Rachel put the bowl of popcorn on the table and leaned over to hug her friend. 

“Thank you for being here with me Quinn,” Rachel said quietly. 

“It’s no problem, it’s what friends are for,” Quinn said returning the hug. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow hopefully you all enjoyed that Faberry fest. I just love writing Quinn so much! But next chapter will be mainly focused on Brittana. 
> 
> Be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates as to when the next chapter will drop.
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here is chapter 3! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I hope you enjoy!

Back in New York, the Lopez-Pierces were enjoying a moment of peace after returning home from Lima. Santana was sitting on the couch with her iPad in one hand going over a case for the firm she worked for in the city, while her other hand ran through Brittany’s hair as the blonde had her head in her wife's lap. Brittany had her eyes closed and was content. 

These were the moments Santana lived the most for. The moments where she wasn’t entertainment lawyer Santana Lopez-Pierce and her wife wasn’t Brittany Lopez-Pierce, co-owner of SoHo Steps, they were just Santana and Brittany. S & B. They had been through hell to get to where they were at now, but Santana would go through it all again to make sure she ended up with the love of her life. 

Even since the day, they got married things weren’t smooth sailing. Law school was hard on the pair. Santana was taking as many classes as she could each semester on top of working a job. Brittany was also in school but she was teaching some dance classes on the side to help pay the rent on their Brooklyn apartment. 

There were countless nights where Santana would get home late from work to find Brittany already asleep or Brittany wouldn’t see Santana for days on end because of rehearsals for a concert she was a part of. 

There had been fights— some more serious than others, but they always made it through it. Santana had never missed a performance her wife was in and Brittany was the first person to know Santana had passed the bar a few months ago. 

The hardest time had come a year earlier while Santana was doing her internship at a business law firm. Business law was Santana’s least favorite form of law but she had needed an internship to be able to graduate so when one of the best firms in the city offered her a position, she took it. They also paid her enough that she was able to cut back her hours at her diner job and would still be able to keep a roof over her and Brittany’s heads.

She had hated every single day she worked there and more times than not she brought her resentment with her internship home with her. After one particularly bad day, Santana got home later than she had promised Brittany. When she walked into the apartment she could tell something was off. Usually, there was always music playing at a low volume, and depending on the genre of music, Brittany’s voice quietly accompanied it. But there was no music and the usually bright house was dim. 

As Santana rounded the corner into the small dining room they had she saw Brittany sitting at the table with an empty bottle of wine in front of her. There were candles on the table and Brittany had made Santana’s favorite dinner. 

Santana immediately ran through all the important dates in their relationship. Her birthday wasn’t for another two months, their wedding anniversary was a few weeks before and she was 99% sure it wasn’t any of the other anniversaries the pair shared. 

A huge fight had broken out when Brittany saw her wife. She had known how much she hated her internship and she wanted to surprise Santana with a nice dinner to help take her mind off of things. Both had said some things they wished they hadn’t said and the night ended with Santana sleeping on the sofa. 

It took two days for the pair to make up with both apologizing for the things that were said. From that day on Santana had made more of an effort of leaving the anger from work at work and also making sure that she always told Brittany if she would be home later than she usually would be. 

Santana’s issues with post-work anger had mostly gone away when she was offered the job at French and Oliver, no longer was she dealing with snooty old white businessmen who wanted to avoid the law, she was working with artists of all sorts with all kinds of issues. 

It was the closest Santana would be to being in the entertainment business but she was fine with it. 

“San I have a question,” Brittany said breaking the silence the pair had been in for God knows how long. 

“What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours,” Santana said, putting her iPad on the side table. She looked into the blue eyes that always made her feel like she was the most important person on the planet. 

Brittany opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by “River Deep Mountain High” coming from Santana’s phone. 

“What were you going to say, baby? That’s just Wheezy. I can call her back anytime.” Santana said as she let the phone go to voicemail. 

Before Brittany could respond the phone started ringing again. 

“Answer the phone Santana it's okay. She’s going to keep calling until you answer. It’s obviously important. My question can wait a few minutes.” 

Santana sighed and placed a kiss on her wife’s forehead before she answered the phone. 

“This better be important Wheezy. I am trying to enjoy my night with my wife.” 

“Well hello to you too Satan,” Mercedes said back. “Since I know Britt is with you, put me on speaker.” 

Santana obliged and put her former teammate on speaker. 

“Hi Mercedes,” Brittany chirped once the phone was on speaker. 

“I still don’t know how you deal with Santana 24/7 Britt, you really are an angel. But anyways I was wondering if I could crash in your guest room for the next few days?” 

“Cedes you know you are always welcome here,” Brittany said. “How long are you going to be in the city for?“

“Well, I was hoping for the next year or so—”

“Woah, woah, woah. You are not crashing in our guest room for the next year or so Mercedes. Why would you even need to be here so long? I thought you were happy in LA?” Santana said. 

“I was happy in Los Angeles. But seeing y’all this weekend really made me realize how much I actually missed your snarky ass. I told my label I was moving to New York for the next little bit. They were okay with it since they have an office here and I need a change of scenery. I would only be staying with you lovebirds until I find a place of my own, which should only be two weeks max since the studio is setting me up with some potential options.” 

“Mercedes that is so exciting you are moving out here!” Brittany said sitting up from her position on Santana’s lap. “I know as much as she won’t admit it, San is happy too. She has been talking about flying out to LA to visit you for a while now.” 

“Yeah Wheezy it will be nice to have you out here. Even though Rachel and I are friends again I can still only take so much of her. It’ll be a nice change to have you around for more than two days.” 

“Wow you actually have a heart at times,” Mercedes said with a laugh as Santana rolled her eyes. 

The trio made the plans for Mercedes's arrival in two days and then said their goodbyes. 

“It’s going to be fun to have Mercedes in the city with us soon,” Brittany said.

“Yeah it will be,” Santana said as she cuddled up to Brittany. “So what did you want to ask me before she called?” 

There was a long pause before Brittany spoke again. 

“I want a baby,” she said quietly, slightly hoping Santana hadn’t heard her. But her wife heard her. 

“A baby? Like an actual human baby? Britt are you sure we are ready for that? We can barely keep our plants alive at times.” 

“Yeah San a human baby,” the blonde said with a small laugh. “As much as we struggle with the plants at times, I think we are ready. We’ve been married for five years, we both have stable jobs and I think it’s the next logical step for us.” 

Santana sat in silence for a good minute or so. Her wife was making some good points, and to be honest, she was surprised Brittany had held out this long. She saw how good she was with Blaine and Kurt’s daughter and she also worked with some kids at the studio so she knew it was bound to happen sooner rather than later. 

While Brittany was ready, Santana didn’t know if she was. She always thought about having kids with Brittany, even back in high school but now that she knows that her wife is ready, she doesn’t know if she is. 

Brittany was right where she wanted to be in her career and while Santana was definitely making strides towards hers, she always pictured being a partner at a firm before having kids. 

“Yeah it is the next logical step but this wouldn’t be like us watching Tracy for a few hours while Kurt and Blaine run some errands. This baby would be ours for the next 18 plus years, Britt.” 

“I know that babe. I just— ever since Tracy was born I keep thinking about a little boy who looks like you and calls you Mami and me Mama and I just want it.” 

“Wait not only do you want a baby but you want me to carry the baby? Britt, I don’t think I could do that, I’m just now getting some of the better cases at the firm and—” her panicked rant was cut off when Brittany’s lips contacted hers. 

“I’m not asking you to carry the first one San. I know how much work means to you right now. I was doing some research for our options and I saw that some lesbian couples carry each other's eggs and that’s what I would want to do if you were open to that. I don’t just want a baby, I want your baby.” 

Santana was taken back. Obviously, this had been on Brittany’s mind for a while if she had been researching all of their options.

“Baby I love that you have been doing all this research about our options but do we even have the money to do all the procedures and doctors appointments that we will have to go through just to even try? And then there is the chance that we do have enough money and what if we can’t get you pregnant on the first try? Or we are successful and we lose the baby? I don’t think I could handle that.” 

Brittany sat thinking about what her wife had said. She had been so focused on working up the courage to tell Santana that she even wanted a baby she didn’t even think about the financial side of things. 

“I could teach some more private classes to make some more money and we have been talking about taking some of our old clothes to that upcycling place down the street for a while now and I’m sure we could get some money from—” it was Santana’s turn to stop the rambling with a kiss. 

“Britt just take a deep breath. We haven’t decided anything yet.” 

“But do you want a baby? You haven’t given me a straight answer yet.” 

Santana took a moment before she responded. Something was appealing about the idea of coming home to not only Brittany but also a son or daughter that was theirs. While Britt had confessed her fantasy of a little boy that looked like Santana, the brunette pictured a mini Brittany who had the same mannerisms as her wife. She pictured dance classes and recitals and her two blondes dancing throughout the house. 

“Yeah I want to have a baby with you,” Santana said with confidence. Brittany jumped into her wife's lap, wrapping her arms around her neck and slamming her lips against Santanas. 

“That’s such a relief. I didn’t know how you would feel about it since I know you aren’t the biggest fan of kids.” 

“I’m not the biggest fan of other people's kids but I know our kid would be kick-ass with us as moms. Plus I’ve always thought about having kids with you, ever since high school.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, you were the only person I could picture starting a family with.” 

“I feel the same way about you, Santana,” Brittany said, punctuating her statement with a kiss. “I can’t wait to start a family with you.” 

“Me neither Britt. But I think we shouldn’t start for a few months. I want to find the best doctor for us and also start saving money for all the appointments. Plus I want to read this info you found about you carrying my baby.” 

“That works for me,” Brittany said. “How long do you want before we start trying because I’m ready whenever.” 

“How about six months? That’s plenty of time to save from both of our jobs. And that gives us time to take our clothes to the place down the street like you suggested.” 

Brittany laughed as she rested her forehead on her wife's shoulder.

“I love you so much Santana Lopez-Pierce. You’re going to be a great mom to our children.” 

A small smile crossed Santana’s face as she kissed Brittany’s head. Knowing that her wife had faith in her to be a good parent made her even more ready to embark on this journey with her wife. 

“I love you too Brittany Lopez-Pierce.” 

Santana knew this journey they were about to embark on wasn’t going to be easy, but there was no one else in the world she would want to go with it on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates as to when the next chapter will drop.
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for all the kudos and comments on the last chapter! I really appreciate all the support! Here is chapter 4!

It was funny, just like most things in Santana’s life girl’s night was an ever-evolving thing. It originally started when Brittany had decided she had enough of the fighting and anger between her wife and Rachel. 

Even after the pair had buried the hatchet, Santana still insisted that the tiny brunette spend time with them at their apartment. When Quinn came back into the folds, she started coming around to the weekly hangouts, not wanting to miss another moment in her friends' lives. 

By this point, the bi-weekly get-together was aptly named girl’s night but once Rachel got pregnant with Tracy, Kurt began to show up at the Lopez-Pierce home on the nights the girls would get together. He showed up one night saying that he wanted to make sure that everyone was being nice to Rachel and the precious cargo she was carrying. 

Even after Tracy was born Kurt still came over to the apartment when the gang was getting together. Just like Rachel, he missed a few of the get-togethers after Tracy was born, to get used to having a newborn that he and Blaine needed to take care of. 

Ever since Kurt had become a regular at the hangouts Santana had stopped calling it girl’s night and had started calling it girl’s and gays night. When Brittany went to argue about how that might not be the best name Santana, who was logical with all of her decisions said that it worked perfectly because everyone minus Rachel was gay in some way and most of the people in attendance were also girls. 

And tonight was the first girl’s and gays night with the newest NYC resident—Mercedes.

“B, will you help me get the wine glasses down? You know I can’t reach them when you put them on the top shelf,” Santana said reaching for the wine glasses. A slim pair of arms wrapped around her waist as she elevated herself onto her tippy toes. Soft lips placed a kiss on her neck. 

“You know I would think you do this on purpose just so you could see me struggle,” Santana said. 

“I don’t do it on purpose,” Brittany said reaching over her wife's head, grabbing the glasses. “Sometimes I just forget how much shorter you are than me.” 

“Britt, I am three inches shorter than you, it’s not that much.” 

“True but you look so hot when you are struggling to reach something,” Brittany said, bringing her lips to Santanas. The kiss started slow but Brittany showed her wife how hot she was by slipping her tongue into her mouth. Santana kissed back just as passionately, wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck. 

“You two still make out like you are in high school,” Mercedes said, causing the pair to pull apart. People had stayed with them before but they still weren’t used to having someone living with them for more than two days max. 

“Just because you can’t keep someone around for more than two weeks doesn’t mean that Britt and I need to be less in love.” 

“Well you can be in love as much as you like but I thought I would tell you that everyone else is here now.” 

Mercedes grabbed the wine and some glasses and turned to leave the kitchen. 

“With Berry and Hummel in there I bet if we didn’t show up in the next ten minutes no one would notice,” Santana said, putting her lips close to Brittany’s. 

“Baby, we can’t,” Brittany said. “One of them could walk in and we know how awkward it was the last time that happened. I promise I’ll make it up to you tomorrow. Mercedes is going to be out late at some party for her label and we will have the apartment all to ourselves.” 

“I can’t wait until we have the apartment to ourselves whenever we want again,” Santana said. “I’ve missed being able to have my way with you anywhere I want in here.” 

“Soon S I promise. Mercedes told me she had narrowed it down to two places but she was just waiting to see which one she got approved for.” 

Mercedes’ cackle pulled the pair out of their own world, alerting them to their friends who were already enjoying the night without them. 

“Let’s go spend a fun night with our friends,” Brittany said, taking her wife's hand and also grabbing the last two wine glasses off the counter. 

“Well look who decided to join us finally,” Quinn said as the pair entered the living room. 

“Bite me, Fabray,” Santana said as she took a seat in her chair. Brittany poured the pair some wine before taking her spot on Santana’s lap. 

The conversation started back up again and ranged from Mercedes’ apartment hunting to how excited Rachel was to get back on the stage. 

Mercedes was the one to bring up Tracy, asking Kurt how it was to be a dad and asking how the little girl was. Kurt, ever the performer, dramatically talked about how hard it was at times but at the end of the day, it was so worth it, being able to say that this person was theirs. 

The topic of babies was soon directed to the other married people in the room. 

“Rachel, I know you gave Blaine and me the best gift a few months ago but when are you and Jesse going to start trying? Tracy needs some friends and these two,” he said motioning to Santana and Brittany, “aren’t having a baby anytime soon.” 

“Uhh Jesse and I aren’t going to have kids,” Rachel said slowly making herself smaller. She knew this day was coming but telling her best friend that her marriage had ended was not something she was looking forward to. 

“Why not? You guys were considering it before Tracy was born so what changed the plans?”

Rachel took a deep breath before speaking. No matter how many times she told people it didn’t get easier. She felt Quinn take her hand in hers before she spoke. 

“Kurt, Jesse and I are getting a divorce. Things haven’t been good for the last few months and we decided it was time to move on. He will always have a special place in my heart just like Finn but it’s time for us to call it quits for good this time.” 

“Rachel, I’m so sorry,” Mercedes said. “I had no idea you guys were going through it, y’all looked so happy back in Lima.” 

“We talked about it and decided not to announce it until after we got home. We didn’t want to detract from the reason we were all back together again. It’s not in the media yet and won’t be for a few more weeks until we can finish the divorce.” 

Rachel looked up from her hand in Quinns to look at Kurt who hadn’t said a thing. Kurt looked absolutely shell shocked hearing the confession from one of his best friends. 

“I’m sorry what do you mean things haven’t been good for the last few months? A few months ago you were pregnant with my daughter and Jesse was nothing but supportive. What did I miss?”

“Kurt if I tell you, you have to promise you won’t get upset,” Rachel said with tears in her eyes. 

Kurt slowly nodded as Rachel explained how at the beginning Jesse was supportive about her decision to be the surrogate but as Rachel got closer to her due date, Jesse kept pressuring her about starting a family of their own, and when Rachel said she would like to wait a year or so he got upset. She said that surrogacy wasn’t the only thing that led to the decision, explaining how Jesse thought she would give up everything to move to London to be with him. 

The room was silent for a while. No matter how many times Santana heard Rachel explain what led to the divorce she couldn’t stop thinking about how Rachel deserved better than Jesse St. Jackass and she hoped she would find it someday. 

“Kurt I want you to know that me being your surrogate was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Seeing you and Blaine with my goddaughter makes me so happy and worth everything I went through when I was pregnant,” Rachel said with tears flowing down her face. “I don’t want you or Blaine to blame yourselves for my failed marriage, it was my choice to do that for you guys and I would do it all over again. I thought Jesse had grown up a lot since high school but some things don’t change and obviously, he hasn’t. I’m at peace with it and I want you to be too.” 

Everyone held their breath to see what Kurt would say in response to the bomb being dropped on him. Rachel stared at Quinn’s hand in her own, not wanting to make eye contact with Kurt. 

“I never did like him,” Kurt said, wiping a tear of his own away with a small laugh. Rachel looked up and met Kurt's eyes with a small laugh of her own. “While I partially feel as if it is my fault that this happened to you if you say I shouldn’t blame myself I won’t. To be completely honest I am slightly happy that Tracy won’t have to be around Jesse, she already has to deal with enough dramatic people as it is.” 

“Yeah she has the biggest drama queen as one of her dads,” Santana said as Kurt poorly threw a crumpled up napkin at her. “So Q a little Berry told me that your mom invited you to Thanksgiving back in Lima this year.” 

Quinn let out a deep sigh. She should have known Rachel would tell Santana and Brittany before she could. Rachel was always a planner and probably wanted to know what the couple wanted her to bring even though the holiday was more than a month away. She wasn’t mad at the tiny brunette, she was actually relieved because it meant that she didn’t have to tell Santana. Thanksgiving oddly enough was one of Brittany’s favorite holidays to host and every year she went all out even though there weren’t more than five or six people at dinner every year. And with it being one of Brittany’s favorite days, Santana wasn’t going to let anyone ruin it for her wife. 

“She did but I’m not sure if I’m going to go. Frannie is going to be there with her husband and kid and I haven’t seen her since I was 16 and I don’t know if I want to walk into that. I am fine not having her in my life and since she’s never reached out to me I think the feeling is mutual. My mom wants me to go because she wants to see Frannie and I make up. She told me that Frannie has changed since she got married and became a mom but I am just really hesitant.” 

“I think you should go Q,” Brittany said. “S and I know how hard it was for you when she sided with your dad and enough time has passed that it shouldn’t be as hard as it would have been to face her now. Plus you are an aunt and the relationship with your sister aside, don't you want to be in your niece or nephew's life?” 

“Niece. My mom told me that it’s a girl. I’ve already missed two years of her life and I doubt my sister has told her anything about me. If she knows anything about me it’s probably from my mom telling her. I just don’t know. I don’t want to leave you guys high and dry this year, especially because of Rachel’s divorce and you guys know how being back there makes me feel.” 

“Well girl I’ll be back there with my family so you won’t totally be alone in that hell hole,” Mercedes said. 

“And don’t worry about me Quinn,” Rachel said. “I was actually thinking about going back to Lima for Thanksgiving too. It’s been a while since I’ve been back there during the fall. As terrible of a place as it was at times, it is oddly pretty during the fall.” 

“Well if you guys are going to ditch us in favor of Ohio maybe Britt and I will go home too.” 

“I think that's a great idea,” Brittany said, kissing her wife. “My mom has been begging us to spend a Thanksgiving with them. We haven’t done it in years. Plus you can invite your mom and we can have a full Lopez-Pierce family Thanksgiving.” 

“See Quinn, you won’t be alone in Lima,” Rachel said squeezing the hand she still held. “If things start getting dicey you can come over to one of our houses and we can pretend it never happened.” 

“Well while you all make the journey back there, Blaine and I will be hosting both our families at our apartment. We were going to go back but both our parents said they would come to New York since Tracy is still so little. But we are planning on going to Ohio for Christmas. Blaine says he prefers an Ohio Christmas to a New York one and as sad as it is I have to agree with him.” 

“Then it’s settled. All of us girls are going back to Ohio for Thanksgiving,” Rachel said getting up and taking her wine glass to the kitchen. 

“I didn’t say I had made up my mind,” Quinn said. 

“You didn’t have to,” Santana said. “We all know where Rachel goes, you follow. I really thought you had gotten over that crush you had on her in high school.” 

Quinn turned a deep shade of red and excused herself to the balcony saying she needed some air as Rachel came back from the kitchen. 

As Rachel went to follow her out Santana said she would go talk to her. 

Quinn had been on the balcony for thirty seconds before she heard the door open behind her. 

“Look Rach I just need a minute to myself and then I’ll be right back in.” 

“Wow, you really have it bad, thinking that she would follow you out here. To be fair she was going to but I thought you would rather talk to someone who might get you more.” 

“I don’t know what I’m doing Santana. I thought I had gotten over this years ago. I used to think the reason why I couldn’t stop thinking about Rachel in high school was because of how annoying she was but no matter how mean I was she was always so nice to me. And the thing that sucks the most is that I know she will never feel the same way about me that I feel about her.” 

“How do you know that?” Santana said. 

“San she was married to a man for the last few years. If that doesn’t mean she is straight I don’t know what else is. Plus she’s never showed interest in women and last time I checked I was a woman.” 

“Yes she was married to a man but she has shown interest in women before. Do you know how she and Jesse took a break for a few months when Rachel went back to school? Well, she told me that she wanted to experiment and see what else there was. In those nine months that Jesse and she were split she was with some girl who she had a class with. And from the stuff, she told Britt made it seem like she enjoyed it.” 

“If she enjoyed it why did she get back with Jesse then?” 

“She told Britt that Alyssa or whatever her name wasn’t right for her. I’m not one to say that people have types but I will say that Rachel did find a girl who looked oddly like you.” 

Quinn felt like she had been hit by a train. All the information that had just been given to her overwhelmed her so much.

“Why did she talk to Britt and not you?” 

“She thought that talking to Britt would be easier because Britt is bi. She wanted to pick her brain and talk to someone who got what she was going through.” 

“So Rachel is bisexual?” Quinn said asking like the answer was the air she needed to live. 

“It’s not my place to tell,” Santana said. “You know my stance on people being outed publicly. If you want to know you need to talk to her. She obviously feels something for you. She is going back to Ohio for Thanksgiving to make sure that you aren’t alone. You just need to talk to her and get her to tell you.” 

“I think I will. I just don’t want to pressure her into anything especially with the divorce still going on.” 

“Q, she has been obsessed with you since high school, I don’t think you would be pressuring her into anything. The first step is talking to her and getting her to tell you.” 

“Yeah, you are right. We are supposed to get lunch sometime next week so I’ll talk to her then.” 

“Good for you Tubbers. Now let's go back inside. It's starting to get cold and I want to cuddle with my wife.” 

As the pair reentered the living room Mercedes and Kurt were cackling at something someone had said. Quinn’s eyes were immediately drawn to Rachel and the brunette’s eyes found the blondes. Rachel flashed a small smile as Quinn sat down next to her again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there was chapter 4! I hope you all enjoyed it! 
> 
> Be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates as to when the next chapter will drop!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys here is chapter five! Hope you enjoy

Quinn was neck deep into editing a manuscript for the publishing house she worked for when her phone went off. At first, she ignored it but when it went off again she decided to check it because obviously something important was going on. She saw she had a handful of texts from Santana 

_ The press found out about Jesse and Rachel.  _

_ It’s not good Q. People are saying some bad things about Rachel on social media.  _

_ She’s not answering mine or Bitt’s calls. Can you check on her? _

Even if Santana hadn’t asked her to check on Rachel, Quinn would have. Rachel and social media had always been a lethal pairing and with something as serious as her failed marriage she knew the brunette was not in the right headspace to see all the negativity about her life. 

Quinn was surprised it had taken the press this long to find out about the divorce. The pair had finalized everything a few days after the last girl’s and gays night and that was almost two weeks ago. The day that everything was finalized, Rachel spent the evening with Quinn, Brittany, and Santana as they tried to distract their friend from the sadness in her life. 

She shot off a quick response to Santana telling her she would try calling their friend. Quinn quickly dialed Rachel’s number but wasn’t surprised when it went to voicemail. She hung up and decided to try again. It went to voicemail, again, but this time Quinn left a message. 

“Hey, Rach, I saw that the press found out and I just wanted to see if you were okay. San, Britt, and I are worried about you. If you could call me back I would really appreciate it. We love you so much.” 

Before she put her phone down she shot her both Santana. She told Santana that Rachel hadn’t answered her call either but she left her a voicemail. Then she sent one to Rachel too, it was short and just showed her friend that she was there for her. 

Quinn tried to get back into her work but she couldn't focus. Her mind kept going back to her friend and what she might have been going through at that moment. The manuscript was quickly forgotten as Quinn grabbed her coat and keys, determined to check on her friend. 

Quinn raced to Rachel’s apartment and was glad at that moment that Jesse had decided to move out and not vice versa. She quickly unlocked the door with the key Rachel had given her in case of emergencies and let herself into the apartment. 

The usually lively apartment was dark and quiet. The blackout curtains Rachel hung were drawn, blocking out the afternoon light of Brooklyn. 

“Rachel?” 

Quinn slowly entered the apartment looking for her friend. She wasn’t in the living room and when Quinn checked the kitchen she saw an opened bottle of wine. Quinn lifted the bottle and noticed it was empty. Rachel’s tolerance had built up since high school so Quinn knew she wasn’t going to find her friend in the same state as she would have been in high school but there was a good chance Rachel was intoxicated in some capacity. 

Quinn called out for her once more as she headed towards Rachel’s bedroom. As she approached she saw the door was open and just like the rest of the house, the curtains were drawn. Quinn could tell Rachel was crying by the way her body was moving on the bed. She noticed the empty wine glass on the nightstand signifying what Quinn already knew. 

Quinn slowly approached, not wanting to scare the brunette. 

“Rachel,” Quinn said as she sat down on the bed. 

“Quinn, what are you doing here?” Rachel said, sitting up to look at her friend. Her eyes were red and the tear tracks were visible on her face. 

“You weren’t answering your phone and we were worried about you. San told me about the press and I didn’t want you to be alone.” 

The next thing Quinn knew Rachel was sobbing and clinging to her like she was her lifeline. Quinn was taken back for a moment before she gathered Rachel in her arms to soothe her friend. She ran her fingers through Rachel’s hair while whispering positive things to the girl. 

“How can people be so cruel about something like this?” Rachel said between the sobs. “They don’t know anything that I went through so why do they think they can judge me? Quinn, they were saying things that weren’t true like saying I was cheating on Jesse with some guy from my show and I don’t know why someone would do something like that.” 

“Rach you know the press is going to make things up that are bad no matter what. And what everyone is saying doesn’t matter. You did what was best for you and I am so proud of you for doing it,” Quinn started. “What you are going through right now is no easy thing and you are so strong no matter what those assholes say. I know you didn’t want to release a statement about the divorce but I think you should, just to clear everything up. You don’t have to say the exact reason you guys split but I think you should do it. It might make things easier.” 

Quinn held her breath waiting for Rachel to respond. Getting Rachel to release a statement was a fight she and Santana had been fighting for a few weeks now. Rachel didn't want to bring attention to everything but now it was coming back to bite her in the ass. 

“I’ll call Mary in the morning and get something written up to release,” Rachel said. 

“Good,” Quinn said, placing a kiss on the top of Rachel’s head. “Have you eaten today? I noticed the empty bottle of wine in your kitchen. I don’t want you getting sick.” 

“Yeah, I ate this morning. I ran some errands and then I came home and saw everything on Twitter and just opened the bottle, I didn’t mean to drink the whole thing but the comments kept getting more and more outrageous, and the next thing I knew the whole bottle was gone. What time is it even now?” 

Quinn looked at her phone, noticing a text from Santana. But she chose to ignore it for the moment. 

“It’s just a little bit after 4. I’m going to go make you something to eat. If you haven’t eaten since this morning you are bound to be hungry. Will you be okay for like 20 minutes while I make you something?” Quinn said looking down at Rachel.

She felt Rachel’s head move up and down against her chest. As much as she didn’t want to let Rachel go she knew she needed to do this for her. 

As the pair slowly removed themselves from each other Quinn promised she would be back as soon as she could be. On her way to the kitchen she sent Santana a text telling her that she was with Rachel and would call her later. 

While Quinn was gone Rachel went into the adjacent bathroom, washed her face, brushed her hair, and tried to make it look like she hadn’t been drunk crying for the better part of the last two hours. She was coming out of the bathroom in a fresh NYADA hoodie and some leggings when Quinn came back from the kitchen. 

“Hey, I made us some tomato soup and grilled cheeses. I made yours with that disgusting vegan shit you love for some reason.” Quinn said as she sat down on the bed with the tray of food. “Thank god Santana convinced you to keep some non-vegan stuff here for us so we wouldn’t be forced to eat this trash. 

“Quinn, you know it’s actually better for you than regular cheese.” Rachel said sitting down next to her friend. “You just can’t live without cheese, just like you can’t live with the monstrosity known as bacon.” 

Quinn let out a laugh as she dipped her sandwich in the soup. “You just won’t let that go will you?” 

“Never.” Rachel said with some sandwich in her mouth. The pair chatted while eating their food and it felt like just a day the two of them would spend together. At that moment Rachel’s private life wasn’t being shredded on social media. They were just Quinn and Rachel.

By the time they had finished eating they had cleaned up and Rachel had suggested they watch a movie since it wasn’t that late yet. After another 20 minute debate on why they shouldn’t watch Funny Girl for the umpteenth time, the pair was on Rachel’s bed watching Lady Bird. 

As the film went on Rachel got closer and closer to Quinn. When there were only about 10 minutes left in the movie Rachel had her head on Quinn’s chest. It wasn’t the first time that Rachel had laid on her like this, Rachel was always affectionate with her friends. She and Brittany would cuddle together during girl’s and gay’s night and there had been countless other nights when they were watching a movie as a group and Rachel would curl into her side. But this time it felt different. Maybe it was because of what Santana had told her two weeks before but Quinn could feel her heart beating faster the more she thought of the words her friend had told her. 

She wanted to ask Rachel about it but she felt like asking her at that moment wouldn’t be the best thing. She was still hurting over her divorce and as much as she just couldn’t do that to Rachel. She wanted to talk to her about it but she just needed to find the right moment. 

As the credits rolled Quinn went to move to get up to leave but Rachel stopped her. 

“Quinn will you stay the night?” she asked with sadness in her eyes and voice. “I just don’t think I want to be alone tonight.”

Without even thinking Quinn agreed. Rachel had been there for her in her darkest times and she sure as hell was going to do the same for her friend. 

“Totally Rach. The only problem is I don’t have anything to sleep in,” she said motioning to her body that was still dressed in the jeans and sweater she was wearing before she came over. 

“I’m sure I can find something for you to wear.” Rachel said getting out of bed. 

After finding an oversized t-shirt and some shorts and changing Quinn went to leave Rachel’s room and head for the guest bedroom. 

“Where are you going?” 

“Uhh, the guest room,” Quinn said pointing to the room down the hall. 

“Nope. You are spending the night with me here. You are like a human space heater and you know how cold I get when I sleep.” 

As Quinn approached the bed she felt her heart race begin to pick up. She slid under the covers and the next thing she knew Rachel was curled into her. The brunette had her arms around Quinn’s torso and had her head resting on her chest. 

“Thank you for coming over and checking on me Quinn. It means a lot to me. I love you,” Rachel said as she closed her eyes. 

“I love you too Rach,” Quinn said as she tried to slow her heart down so she could go to sleep. 

* * *

_ I’m with Rachel right now. She is okay. I’ll call you later.  _

After responding to a text from her best friend, Santana threw herself back into the contract for one of the clients she represented at the firm. The contract was already marked up quite a bit on her iPad but she only wanted the best for her client. The girl was an up and coming singer/songwriter who people said was a mix of Amy Winehouse and Etta James. Santana had heard the girl’s demo and she had some pipes on her. While her voice was so powerful and the songs she wrote exuded so much confidence, outside of the recording booth Jamie was the polar opposite. The 19-year old was a tiny blonde who was insanely shy. It still baffled Santana how someone so small could have such a powerful voice but working in this business for as long as she had, Santana had learned never to judge someone’s talent based on their appearance. 

Santana was making a note in the margin of the document to talk to her colleagues about the section on royalties in the contract when she felt the couch dip next to her. She didn’t look up because she knew it was Brittany sitting down next to her. A few moments later she felt her wife’s head on her shoulder as she cuddled close to her. Easily Santana’s hand found Brittany’s and their fingers intertwined. 

A comfortable silence fell over the pair and they stayed like that for a while until Brittany broke the silence. 

“We should get a cat,” Brittany said, not moving her head from its resting place. 

Santana looked up from her iPad and looked at her wife. She should have known this was going to happen eventually. She knew how much Lord Tubbington meant to her wife and even though they had their rough moments the blonde really loved that cat.

“Baby, I don’t know—” Santana started before she was cut off by her wife. 

“I know we have been talking about having a baby— which I still want to do, by the way, I think a cat would be good practice. I know that cats and babies are like completely different but—” It was her turn to be cut off but this time as her wife’s lips came in contact with her own. 

“You know you are so cute when you start rambling.” 

Brittany let out a deep sigh knowing her wife was avoiding the question. Santana always did this and as much as it annoyed Brittany at times, she wouldn’t change it. 

“You say that all the time babe but you are avoiding my question. I know you aren’t a huge cat person but I think getting one would be really nice. I always had cats growing up and look at how good I turned out! Plus it would be nice to have someone else here when you have to spend long days at the office.”

Santana looked at her wife as she finished her reasoning as to why they should get a pet. Brittany always weighed all of her options before she brought something up. 

“Baby I’m glad you have thought about all those things but what about when we aren’t here? We both have full-time jobs and what about when it is performance season at the studio? You spend so much time there making sure that all the dancers know what is going on and you are only here to sleep and shower basically.” 

“As long as the cat has food, water, and a clean litter box they would be fine. San you know as much as I do that cats are pretty self-sufficient. What’s really going on? You already committed to starting a family and that’s a whole lot scarier than getting a cat.” 

“I just don’t know. I just feel like we are starting to put a lot on our plate honey. Having a cat and a baby seems just like it would be a lot right now.” 

“I get that but you said we wouldn’t start trying to get me pregnant for another six months. I think that is plenty of time to get used to having a cat before we throw a baby into the mix. Plus there's no guarantee I get pregnant on the first try, it could take a couple of times for it to work. This is something I really want and I think it would be good for us.” 

That was the thing. Brittany was always able to take all the issues that were plaguing Santana and logically work through them in a matter of minutes. It’s what made them so good for each other. As wild as some of the plans Brittany had, Santana rarely could say no to her. 

“I guess we can get a cat,” Santana said. “I know it will make you happy and I’m a sucker for making you happy.” 

One of Brittany’s iconic smiles crossed her face as her wife finished her statement. She gave her a quick kiss before hopping off the couch jogging into the pair's bedroom. 

“Where are you going?” Santana asked. 

“To get my iPad. I found some really cute cats on the website of the local shelter who I think would be great for us,” Brittany said back as she came back from the room. 

“You were already looking at cats? Even before you brought it up with me?” 

“Yeah I was, because as much of a fight you were going to put up about this, you would never say no to something I wanted so I thought I would get an early look at things,” Brittany said sitting back down. 

“Yeah, you are right baby. I would never say no to you,” Santana said as she leaned closer to her wife to look at the options her wife had picked out. 

“I personally like this little guy,” Brittany said, showing her wife an orange tabby cat. “And see right here it says she is great with kids. Plus she’s older so we wouldn’t have to worry about training her or anything.” 

Santana watched as her wife’s eyes lit up as she showed her picture after picture of the cat and kept explaining why this one would be the best fit for them. Santana had seen that light in Brittany’s eyes so many times before but every time she still felt like it was the first time. At that moment she realized all her fear about having kids was not as strong as they were before. Sure the idea of being responsible for a child still scared the shit out of her but she knew she could handle anything with Brittany at her side. 

“Okay,” Santana said looking at her wife and not the iPad. 

“Okay, what?” Brittany said with a confused look. 

“Let’s adopt that cat,” Santana said matter of factly. 

“But Tana I haven’t shown you the other ones yet. I know this is kinda a big deal for us and I want to make the right choice.” 

“Babe you obviously want this cat. You’ve been talking about her for the last 10 minutes. I trust you to make the right choice for us. Plus you are the cat person out of the two of us.” 

Santana leaned in and kissed her wife. It wasn’t rushed but it was full of passion. Santana loved all the kisses she shared with her wife but these slow and passionate ones were the best in her opinion. 

“Okay I guess this is the cat for us then,” Brittany said after the pair broke apart as she rested her forehead against Santana’s. “She was my favorite one out of the three I picked to show you.” 

“I knew it. When you have things you want to show me you always lead with your favorite. And it hasn’t let us down yet so why mess with perfection.” 

“So are you saying you are going to choose the first fertility doctor I show you in a few months?” 

“Hell no. I’m going to do all the research I can on those guys. Not only are we dealing with your health but we are dealing with the health of our possible child.” 

It was Brittany’s turn to initiate a kiss, and just like the one the pair had just shared, it was long and passionate. 

“I love how protective you are of me and our future child who isn’t even conceived yet. You are perfect.” 

“You are my family and it’s my job to make sure you are safe. That includes any members we might add. Which includes this cat. Which by the way you never mentioned her name or if she even has one.” 

“Her name is Stevie.” 

“Well, why don’t you call the shelter and see when we can go there and meet Stevie so we can bring her home.” 

As Santana had finished her statement she felt her wife throw her body on her own. Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana’s neck and started peppering her face with kisses causing the Latina to start giggling. A few moments later Brittany was off her lap and setting up a meeting for a few days later to meet and possibly adopt the cat.

Santana met her wife’s eyes as she was hanging up the phone. Brittany was right, there was no way she could say no to her and Santana knew that any kid they had would be the same way. She was whipped and she couldn’t care less. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there was chapter 5! I hope you all enjoyed it!
> 
> Be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates as to when the next chapter will drop!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for your continual support of the fic! When I started writing this a few months ago I didn't know if people would enjoy it, let alone read it. So thank you to everyone who has bookmarked, commented, sent their kudos or even just read this story. I really appricate it!. 
> 
> Anywho here's the newest chapter! I had a lot of fun writing this one and I hope you enjoy!

By the time that October had rolled around, things were starting to get crazy for the group. Classes were in full swing for Brittany at the studio, Santana’s caseload was starting to pick up at the firm, Rachel was in the early stages of getting ready to start workshopping her new show and Quinn was hitting deadline season for the manuscripts she was editing. 

But with all the craziness going on, the group still was able to meet up for G&G’s night. Kurt and Mercedes weren't able to make it that specific week. Mercedes was staying late at the studio prepping her newest single for release and Kurt was at home spending some time with his husband and daughter. 

Rachel was currently sprawled on the floor with Brittany, playing with the couple's newest addition. Brittany and Santana had gone to the shelter a few days after their conversation about possibly adopting Stevie to meet the cat. Brittany and the cat had hit it off right away and surprisingly enough Santana did as well. The couple had quickly filled out all the necessary paperwork and took the orange tabby home after making a quick pit stop at the pet store to pick up some things they would need. 

As stressful and annoying she thought having a cat would be, Santana was actually really loving having Stevie in their life. Not only was the cat there for her wife when she had to spend long nights at the office but seeing how happy Brittany was with their newest addition made it all worth it. 

As Santana looked up from her wife and one of her friends she saw Quinn who looked like she was about to burst at any given moment. 

“Hey Q will you come help me with something in the kitchen?” Santana said hoping to find out what was going on with her friend.

“Sure,” Quinn said as she slowly got up from the chair she was in. 

Once the pair was in the kitchen Santana jumped straight to it. “What’s up with you? You look like you are either going to start crying or are going to jump onto Berry any minute.” 

Quinn let out a deep sigh before she spoke. She quickly explained what had happened at Rachel’s apartment a few weeks earlier and how she didn’t know how to read into it. 

“So you're telling me that you slept with Berry and you waited this long to tell me? Quinn, I thought we were closer than that.” 

“I didn’t sleep with her, we just slept together in the same bed. She was hurting after all the media and social media shit and I just wanted to be a good friend to her.” 

“Okay well, that doesn’t explain why you look a mess though? Isn’t this what you wanted? Rachel Berry single and available?” 

“It is, it’s just— I don’t know how to breach the topic with her. I don’t want to come off as pushy, especially because she is just getting out of a marriage San. Plus even then I don’t even know if she would be interested in me. She might have had a crush on me in high school but that was years ago and crushes fade.” 

“You say that but you’ve been crushing on this girl since high school and you still are almost five years later. You have to be blind if you can't see that Berry is into you. You just need to find the balls to talk to her. Because if I had to put money on it I would bet Rachel is waiting for you to come to her about this and not vice versa. She is one of the only people who knows when to push you or not.”

Quinn thought about her friend's words for a minute. Rachel always was there for her when she needed to talk and knew when she just needed some silent support. Even back in high school, Rachel put Quinn before herself, and even when Rachel needed the support she still put Quinn first. 

“We should get back in there. I bet the two of them are overstimulating Stevie,” Quinn said as she turned to leave the kitchen. 

“Sure, but Q you have to promise me you will talk to Rachel soon. I get that you want to give her time and stuff but I don’t think she is going to need much if you tell her how you are feeling.” 

Quinn sent her friend a quick nod before grabbing her glass of wine and heading back into the living room with Santana close on her heels. 

The diva and dancer had abandoned their spots on the floor and were back to sitting on the furniture in the house. Santana quickly sat next to her wife on the loveseat while Quinn sat in one of the solo chairs across from Rachel who was on the couch. 

“So what were you talking about?” Santana said wanting to make things feel as normal as possible. 

“Rach was just talking about how she was thinking about getting a cat since she will be alone in her apartment more now.” 

Santana shot Quinn a knowing look over her wine glass. Quinn refused to look at her friend knowing she was right about everything she said in the kitchen. 

“It's just so quiet there and I just want someone to be there to keep me company. Brittany was just telling me about the shelter that the two of you got Stevie at and I might look into getting myself a cat from there.” 

“What did you need Q’s help with in the kitchen baby?” Brittany asked her wife. 

“Oh Q was just helping me decide what bottle of wine we should open next. Nothing serious.” 

The conversation continued for a while before Quinn excused herself to the balcony saying she needed some fresh air. Even in all the hustle of the city, Quinn was at peace when she was up above it all and could just watch. She was able to clear her head which was exactly what she needed at that moment. 

Santana’s words from earlier kept repeating themselves in her head. She had no reason to not believe her best friend but there was just something in her head that was telling her this wouldn’t end well for her. People go through phases all the time. Hell she went through a lot in high school. But there was also the issue of it wasn't a phase how would people react to Rachel being with her. Even though being gay was widely accepted in the theatre community, Quinn didn’t want to be the reason that Rachel was never cast in another show. 

Also what if they did get together and things didn’t work out. Quinn couldn’t see her life without Rachel in any capacity but thoughts of their friendship falling apart after any form of breakup made her stomach roll. 

But what if things did work out? Rachel’s star on Broadway got big enough that she would be able to make the jump to movies, Quinn becoming a best selling author. The pair sharing an apartment in Brooklyn or Manhattan— Quinn would let Rachel choose, the pair may be getting married and having a couple of kids. And just being happy. 

Quinn was so deep in her thoughts she didn’t hear the sliding door open or hear someone approach her. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the voice she didn’t expect. 

“There’s something magical about Brooklyn at night,” Rachel said. “This is the one thing I wish I had at my place. It's really nice but the lack of balcony is one of the only things that is missing.” 

Quinn just nodded back, not making eye contact with Rachel. 

“Quinn, have I done something wrong? You’ve been acting weird around me since the night you came over. If I overstepped any boundaries I’m very sorry and —”

“No, no, no you haven’t done anything wrong,” Quinn said, cutting off the actress and finally looking her in the eyes. 

“Then what is it, Quinn?” 

Quinn paused before responding. It was like the universe was setting her up to be able to tell Rachel what has been on her mind for years. 

“Rachel I’m going to tell you something and I need you to promise me you aren’t going to interrupt me because it is important.” 

Rachel nodded and the blonde took a deep breath before she spoke. 

“I like you, Rachel. And it’s more of an I  _ like  _ you type of feelings. I might be out of place for saying this given everything that you have been through recently but I just can’t hold it in anymore,” Quinn said shifting her eyes down to her shoes. “And I know you probably don’t feel the same way towards me but I just have to tell you that I love you. I have since high school. And if me saying that makes it so you don’t want to be my friend anymore I get it. We can—” 

“Quinn stop,” Rachel said as Quinn felt her heart drop. The tone that Rachel used she had only heard when she was pissed off at someone. Quinn wanted to kick herself. There was no way Santana was right about this. She never should have listened to her, now she was about to lose one of her best friends and she was going to kill Santana for telling her to go for it. 

“Quinn look at me,” Rachel said. Quinn was afraid to look at the brunette, when she looked up she was expecting to see Rachel’s eyes full of anger but it was the opposite. The brown eyes that looked back at her were filled with happiness. 

“I would never not want to be friends with you. We worked our ass off for how many years to get where we are now and I’m not going to let you throw it away that easy.” 

Quinn let out a small laugh glad to know that Rachel still wanted to be her friend. 

“As for your other confession,” Rachel started. Again Quinn felt her heart drop. This was the moment she had been dreading, nothing hurt more than being told their feelings aren't reciprocated. 

“Rach it’s no big deal. I’ll get over it. It might take some time but—” Quinn’s rambling was cut off by the softest pair of lips she ever felt coming in contact with hers. It took a moment for her brain to catch up with what was going on but once it did she felt herself kissing Rachel back. Quinn's arms slowly made their way around Rachel’s waist while the brunette wrapped her arms around her neck. 

Quinn didn’t know how long they were like that but when she felt Rachel start to pull away it felt like the kiss had just started. Quinn let out a slow moan as their lips separated. 

“You know for someone who is so smart, you really are clueless when it comes to flirting,” Rachel said as their foreheads rested against each other. 

“What do you mean?” Quinn said. 

“I was hoping you would have made your move when you were at my apartment but I guess I need to step up my game if you didn’t fall for it.” 

“I would have told you a lot sooner if I would have known you felt the same. Maybe we could have saved you some money too because you wouldn’t have had to pay a divorce attorney.” 

Rachel threw her head back as she let out a laugh. “You could have saved a lot of heartaches but you always were into putting others before yourself.” 

“Like I said, if I would have known you were even into girls I would have done that years ago.” 

“Well, I’m glad you did it because I was getting a little tired of waiting. If you wouldn’t have said anything soon I was just going to tell you myself. But yes I am into both guys and girls. But the only girl I’m into right now is you. I actually have been into you for quite a while now but—” 

Quinn was the one to initiate the kiss this time. There was something about kissing Rachel that just felt right. Like she was meant to do this. 

“Now that I know I’m not going to let another moment go to waste,” Quinn said after the pair broke apart. “But being the lady that I am I would like to formally ask you out on a date.”

“I would love to go on a date with you Quinn,” Rachel said as she started to shiver. 

“C’mon let's get you back inside, we can’t have you catching a cold before our date. Plus I bet S and B have been watching this all go down. I’m surprised Santana was able to keep Brittany from storming the balcony in a fit of excitement for this long.” 

As they came back into the house they were met with cheers from the other two occupants of the apartment. Both Rachel and Quinn’s faces began to flush from embarrassment. 

“B they finally did it, they finally confessed they have loved each other since high school. They really grow up so fast,” Santana said wiping away a fake tear from her face. As Quinn went to go sit in the chair she was in before, she was pulled down onto the couch with Rachel. Quinn's arm quickly found its place around the diva's shoulders while Rachel cuddled into Quinn’s side. Stevie moved from her place on the floor and decided to sit on Rachel’s lap. 

“San stop it,” Brittany said slapping her wife’s arm. “Just because they needed a little nudge from their best friends doesn’t mean you get all the credit.” 

“Well I would like to thank you both for the nudges you gave because now I have a date with a very hot blonde,” Rachel said looking up at Quinn. 

Quinn let out a sarcastic thanks directed towards Santana but on the inside, she was also really grateful that her friend had pushed her to talk to Rachel. 

She could hear Santana and Brittany fighting with each other but she was too enthralled with the brunette in her own arms. Their eyes met each others and Quinn flashed a small smile as Rachel mouthed a quick ‘you are so pretty’ to the blonde. Quinn felt her cheeks heat up as she whispered back ‘no you are.’ 

“I Swear if the two of you getting together means I have to watch the two of you make heart eyes at each other for the rest of time I’m going to regret helping you,” Santana said, breaking the pair out of their trance. 

“Oh like we didn’t have to witness you and Britt undressing each other with your eyes in high school. Hell you guys still do it now and you’ve been married for five years,” Quinn said. 

“Hey just because my wife has been smoking hot since high school doesn’t mean I can’t still appreciate her,” Santana shot back. 

“Well I would just like to add that Quinn has also been attractive since high school,” Rachel said. “I told her at junior prom that she was the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen and I still stand by that statement.” 

Without even thinking Quinn leaned down and placed a kiss on Rachel's lips. “I appreciate the sentiment but you are actually the prettiest girl ever.” 

Quinn could hear Santana faking a barfing noise while Brittany scolded her yet again. Rachel flipped Santana off as she kissed Quinn back. 

“Stevie come over here,” Santana said, trying to get the cat to move. “You are too young to be seeing something as gross as that. Come spend some time with the people who feed you.” 

Rachel and Quinn pulled apart when Stevie jumped off the brunette's lap. The cat slowly moved off the couch and towards the chair that Santana and Brittany were occupying. Once she was settled in Brittany’s lap, Santana's hand quickly found the spot the cat loved behind her left ear. 

“Who would have thought that Santana would be a proud cat mom, I thought if you ever got a cat you would be calling it the devil incarnate but yet here we are,” Quinn said. 

“Santana and Stevie were best friends from the moment they met each other,” Brittany said. “It was so cute. Stevie walked up to her and Santana turned into mush.” 

“If that is how you reacted to a cat, how are you going to be when you guys have kids?” Quinn said with a small laugh. "If that kid looks anything like B you are going to be done." 

“I think San will be a great mom someday,” Brittany said, kissing her wife. 

"You will be too Britt-Britt," Santana said, as she kissed her wife back full of passion. 

“And with that, I think I’m going to head home,” Quinn said, getting up from the couch. “I don’t need to see where this is going. Rach are you ready to head out cause if you are I’ll walk you home.” 

“Yeah I think it’s time to head home too,” Rachel said getting off the couch. Her hand found Quinns and interlocked their fingers. “It was really nice tonight guys,” she said to the pair as they finally broke their kiss. 

“It’s always good to have you guys over,” Brittany said as she started to get off Santana’s lap. 

“Britt it’s good, you don’t need to get up,” Quinn said. “We can lock the door behind us. You guys gave us keys for a reason.” 

“Well thank you guys,” Brittany said sitting back down in Santana’s lap. 

As the pair turned to leave the apartment Santana’s voice rang out. “Hey Q, at least you can’t get each other pregnant so go wild.” 

Quinn’s face turned a deep shade of red as Rachel quietly laughed. 

“Bite me San,” Quinn said, leading Rachel to the door. 

“That’s Berry’s job now,” Santana shouted back as the apartment door slammed shut. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE FINALLY HAVE A FABERRY KISS!!! I was a little bit scared to write that scene but I am really enjoyed how it turned out! 
> 
> As always be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates and also if y'all just want to talk about the fic or glee in general! 
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter! As always I hope y'all enjoy it!

It wasn’t until a few weeks after Quinn had asked Rachel out on the balcony that they actually had their date. Things at the publishing house were crazy but it didn’t take Quinn long to figure out what she was going to do. Rachel always talked about how much she loved Central Park in the fall so Quinn decided she would take Rachel on a walk through the park and then head back to her place for dinner. 

On the day of the date, Quinn was a mess. She had gone through five different outfits before deciding on one. It had been rather chilly for the last few days, so the blonde settled on a black and white button-down flannel, a denim jacket, black skinny jeans, and a pair of Vans. She didn’t want to overdress but she didn’t want to be underdressed either. 

She did her hair and makeup three times before deciding it was good enough. She grabbed her phone, keys, and wallet before slipping out of the apartment. Quinn decided to walk to Rachel’s place, giving her a little bit more time to get her thoughts in order.

To be frank she was scared shitless. She had been on plenty of dates before but there was just something about this one that made her want to crawl in bed and never leave. She had been waiting for this moment for ages. Taking Rachel Berry on a date was something she had always dreamed of and now that it was finally happening she didn’t know how to feel. 

As she headed into Rachel’s building she felt her phone go off in her pocket.

_ You have nothing to worry about Q. You and Berry have been pining over each other for ages. Just be sure to thank Auntie Snixx when you eventually get laid ;)  _

Quinn let out a laugh as she put the phone back in her pocket. She gave a small wave to Rachel's doorman before heading to the elevator. As the numbers on the elevator went up so did Quinn’s heart rate. By the time she got to the brunette's door, she was pretty sure she could be classified as having a panic attack. 

She took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She waited a few moments before the door swung open. Quinn had seen Rachel in all sorts of outfits, from the terrible ones she wore in high school to some beautiful dresses she’d worn to countless parties since the group had come to New York. But Quinn felt the air leaving her lungs when she saw Rachel behind the door. The brunette was wearing a cream sweater with black jeans. Her dark locks were slightly curled and the look was finished off with some cute ankle boots. Even in something so pedestrian, Rachel could still take Quinn’s breath away. 

“You—wow. You look so pretty, Rach,” Quinn said, finally regaining her speech. 

Rachel let out a small laugh as a blush crept over her face. “Well thank you, Quinn. You look pretty too. Let me just grab my jacket and stuff and then we can go.” 

Quinn nodded as Rachel quickly ran back into the apartment. She re-emerged a few seconds later. 

“Okay I’m ready,” Rachel said, locking the door to the apartment. “Where are we headed to Quinn?” 

“Rach I’m still not going to tell you, I said it was a surprise for a reason.” 

“You know how much I don’t like surprises Quinn,” Rachel said with a huff as they stepped into the elevator. “But since you are so cute I guess I will let it slide.” 

As the pair got to the street, Rachel’s hand found Quinn’s, making sure their fingers were interlocked. At first, Quinn was a little scared about the PDA, especially given who Rachel was. The thought of their faces gracing some trashy tabloid didn’t sit well with Quinn but she was with Rachel and that was all that mattered. 

Quinn quickly flagged down a cab and told the driver to stop at a coffee shop she was a regular at that just happened to be a block or so away from Central Park. The pair slipped into a comfortable silence in the ride to the cafe. Quinn let her thumb idly rub the back of Rachel’s hand. It felt so natural to do it. 

When the cab pulled up to the coffee shop Quinn quickly paid the driver before hopping out of the cab. The blonde helped the brunette out of the cab, not letting their hands separate the whole time. 

“Quinn, will you finally tell me what we are doing, because I know you love this coffee shop. We’ve been here before.” 

“I know that. But this is not where I’m planning on taking you, it just so happens that this place is close to where we are going.” 

Quinn turned and started to lead the pair in the direction of the park. When they reached the southwest corner, Quinn turned and looked at Rachel. 

“I know how much you love the park in the fall so I thought we would just walk around for a little bit before we head back to my place for dinner,” Quinn started, her nerves starting to come back. “I know it’s not the fanciest date, and I know you like to talk about grand romantic gestures—”

“Quinn it’s perfect,” Rachel said. “Honestly we could have done anything and it would have been perfect. I’m finally on a date with the girl of my dreams so everything is great.” 

Rachel punctuated her thoughts with a kiss on Quinn’s cheek. Quinn felt the heat from Rachel’s lips on her cheek when she pulled away. The pair started to walk around the park, making small talk about all sorts of things, how work was for Quinn, how excited Rachel was to get back on stage. Rachel was talking about how big Tracy was getting as Quinn stopped walking. 

“Quinn is there something wrong?” Rachel said. 

“No it’s just you look so beautiful right here with the changing trees behind you,” Quinn said, releasing her hand from Rachel’s. She pulled out her phone and opened the camera on it. “I want to remember this forever. Just stand there and look beautiful.” 

Rachel let out a quick laugh as Quinn snapped countless pictures on her phone. When she was done she showed Rachel the photos. 

“Quinn these are fantastic. I always forget you are not only a fantastic writer but also a fantastic photographer.” 

“Well it helps when I have an incredibly beautiful subject to shoot,” Quinn said, putting her phone back in her pocket and wrapping her arms around Rachel’s waist. The actresses' arms quickly found their place around the former cheerleader's neck. 

“You are far too kind,” Rachel said. Rachel looked deep into the hazel eyes that were looking back at her. She had never noticed the little bit of green in the blonde’s eyes but now that she had, she loved those eyes even more. 

Quinn leaned in and placed her lips against Rachel’s. She started to slowly kiss the brunette, not wanting to push her if she wasn’t ready yet. After a few moments, she started to pull away. 

“As much as I love doing that, we have plenty of time to do that later,” Quinn said. Rachel let out a small sigh before agreeing. The pair started to walk again and a few minutes later Quinn felt a raindrop on her hand that wasn’t holding Rachel’s. She quickly blew it off, it wasn’t supposed to rain today. She had checked the forecast about a hundred times before she left her apartment and it never said anything about rain. She decided to return her attention to the girl she was holding hands with. She had to be imagining it. 

Quinn was not imagining the rain. A few moments later the clouds opened and it started to torrential downpour. She looked over to Rachel who looked just as surprised as her. 

“C’mon let’s go,” Quinn said as she started to run towards the street, pulling Rachel with her. As they ran, Quinn could hear Rachel laughing, which caused herself to laugh too. 

They reached the street and Quinn tried to flag down a cab but it was proving a lot harder than she would have liked. 

“Here shield yourself with this,” she said, taking off her jacket and handing it to Rachel. 

“Are you insane Quinn? You need it more than me,” Rachel said. “I’m fine right now.” 

“You can’t afford to get sick now, you have a lot coming up and it’s important.” 

“Quinn, stop I’m fine,” Rachel said. “Let’s try and get a cab so we can get out of this rain.” 

It took another 10 minutes before they were able to get in a cab and by the time they were inside the vehicle they were sopping wet. 

Once they were settled in the back seat the pair looked at each other and started laughing. Rachel found her usual spot on Quinn’s side as the ride continued. Quinn could feel the tiny brunette start to shiver during the ride and she silently prayed they would be home soon. 

When they pulled up to Quinn’s building they quickly paid the driver and sprinted from the cab to the lobby hoping to dodge more of the rain. 

They made it back up to Quinn’s apartment in record time. As soon as she walked through the door Quinn was peeling off her wet jacket and putting it on the rack. 

“We are going to get you out of those wet clothes before anything,” Quinn said heading to her room to find some clothes for Rachel. “I could feel you shivering in the cab. I told you to take my jacket.” 

“And then you would have been shivering,” Rachel said following Quinn. 

“Here you can wear these,” Quinn said handing Rachel a hoodie, a pair of leggings, and some dry socks. “You can change in here and I’ll change in the bathroom,” she said grabbing another set of clothes. 

When Quinn came out of the bathroom Rachel was sprawled out on her bed, wearing one of her old Yale hoodies. 

“Yale looks good on you,” Quinn said, picking up Rachel’s wet clothes and hanging them up to dry next to her own. 

“This has to be one of the comfiest hoodies I’ve ever felt,” Rachel said. “It feels like I’m being hugged by a cloud.” 

“Haha I’m glad you like it,” Quinn said. “I’m going to go start dinner.” 

“Quinn wait,” Rachel said, stopping Quinn before she left the bedroom. “Can we just cuddle for a little bit? I’m still cold and I think dinner can wait.” 

Quinn went to protest but Rachel pulled out her puppy dog eyes, making it impossible for her to say no. 

The blonde quickly slipped into the bed next to Rachel. Her arms wrapped around her protectively. 

“You are so warm babe,” Rachel said, getting closer to the blonde. 

Quinn smiled at Rachel’s pet name. “I’m really sorry the rain ruined everything Rach. I swear if I would have known it was going to rain I would have planned something different.”

“There is no need to apologize, Quinn,” Rachel said. “I will enjoy any date you plan because it means I get to spend more time with you.” 

“So this means I get a second date?” 

“Quinn you can have as many dates as you want because I am not going anywhere,” Rachel said with a kiss. Quinn could tell she was tired because her eyes were struggling to say open. 

“That’s good to know Rach,” Quinn said, kissing the top of Rachel’s head. “Go to sleep, dinner will be ready when you wake up.” 

“Ummm okay baby,” Rachel said as sleep started to take over. If Quinn wasn’t paying attention she almost would have missed the next thing that came out of Rachel’s mouth. “I love you, Quinn.” 

It took Quinn a minute to process what Rachel had said. Even though she had already said those three words to the brunette, she wasn’t expecting them this soon from the actress. But once she heard them it felt like her heart was going to explode. 

“I love you too Rachel,” she said back even though the girl in her arms was already asleep. 

  
  


* * *

“So you're telling me that your first date was rained out but Berry still said ‘I love you’? Damn Q, I didn’t think you had game but obviously, I was wrong,” Santana said, taking a bite of her salad. The pair were meeting for one of their weekly lunch dates and Santana wanted all the details from the blonde's date. 

“I thought it was ruined too but apparently Rachel didn’t,” Quinn said sipping her water. “The only thing that sucks is that she didn’t remember saying it.” 

“I’m sorry what?” 

“When she woke up she had no memory of saying it. It was like one of those things you say when you are almost asleep. I didn’t want to ask her about it in case she didn’t mean it.”

“I highly doubt she would say it if she didn’t mean it Q. This is Rachel Berry we are talking about. She is very blunt when she wants to be.” 

“Yeah but I don’t want to do anything that would make it so she wouldn’t want to be with me,” Quinn said, picking at her food. 

“I think you would have to do something really bad for her to not want to go out with you anymore,” Santana said. “The way she looks at you, even before you got together, was like you hung the stars yourself.” 

Quinn let out a deep sigh not wanting to talk about her young relationship anymore. “Speaking of people who are looked at like they hung the stars, how is your marriage?” 

“Good. Britt and Stevie are becoming inseparable which is very cute but I swear that cat is the biggest cock block ever,” Santana said. “Every time we are about to get it on I swear the cat does something to get B’s attention.” 

Quinn started to laugh at her friend's obvious discomfort. “I hate to break it to you San but if you guys ever have kids it’s going to be a million times worse.” 

“Well at least I have a few months until I have to start thinking about that,” Santana said under her breath hoping Quinn didn’t hear it. 

“SANTANA, ARE YOU GUYS PREGNANT?” Quinn said hearing what her friend had just said. 

“Oh no,” Santana quickly said. “Well not yet at least.” 

“What do you mean not yet? Are you guys trying right now?” 

“We aren’t trying right now but we are going to soon. Britt brought it up when we got home from Lima and we both decided it was time to start our family.” 

“Would you look at that,” Quinn started. “Santana Lopez, all grown up. She’s got the wife, the house, the job, the cat, and now a baby on the way.” 

“Woah slow your roll Q, we aren’t going to start trying anytime soon.” 

“Why not? You know how Britt gets when she sets her mind to something.” 

“We both decided to start trying in a few months. Fertility treatments are expensive and even though we have pretty good savings, we just don’t know how many tries it’s going to take.” 

“Look at you being all responsible. Who is going to carry the baby?” 

“Britt is but she doesn’t want to do traditional IVF. She wants to do partner IVF.” 

Quinn shot her friend a confused look as she took a sip of her coffee. 

“It means that Britt would carry one of my eggs that has been fertilized,” Santana watched as her friend's eyes started to fill with tears as her hand covered her mouth. “Yeah, I had the same reaction when she told me. She said she didn’t just want any baby, she wanted my baby.” 

“San that’s the cutest thing ever,” Quinn said. “I’m assuming that’s more expensive than traditional IVF?” 

Santana let out a deep sigh and put her head in her hands. “I haven’t done a lot of research on it but from the little bit, I did do, after just one try almost all of our savings would be wiped out. I’m willing to do it as many times as we need but I don’t want to have to worry about having to get a second job to be able to make it happen.” 

“Why don’t you try and convince B to do traditional IVF then?” 

“You already said it, when she sets her mind on something she won’t let off until it happens,” Santana said. “Plus the thought of her carrying my baby is insanely hot to me. I still want to find a donor who looks like her so the baby will at least kinda resemble her.” 

“Why don’t you ask Sam?” Quinn asked, smiling around her fork. 

“As Wheezy would say ‘oh hell to the no.’ There is no way I’m letting that happen. I can’t risk the baby coming out with enormous lips. Why would you say something so cruel?” 

“Hey, no need to get upset with me,” Quinn said, putting her hands up in mock surrender. The pair sat in silence for a while, eating their lunch, and just enjoying each other's presence. “I’m glad you told me though S, I know how you get with stressful situations. If you ever just want to talk you always have me, whether it's stuff you talk to B about or not. I’m here for you.” 

“Thanks, Q, same goes if you want to talk about anything that’s going on with Berry. This is a two-way street.” 

Quinn nodded back to her friend. The pair quickly wrapped up and said they would see each other at Kurt and Blaine’s Halloween party a few days later. 

Santana still had 30 minutes on her lunch break when she parted with Quinn. Usually, she would head back to the office to try and get her work done so she could go home earlier but she didn’t want to go back this time. She started walking and soon enough she was standing in front of a white brick building. She quickly opened the door and walked in. 

“Well look who it is?” the redhead behind the counter said. “I was beginning to think you forgot where this place was. You haven’t been by in months.” 

“I could never forget this place, Chelsea,” Santana said with a little laugh. “It’s just been crazy at the firm for the last little bit so that's why I haven’t been by as much.” 

Chelsea was the co-owner of SoHo Steps with Brittany. The pair had met in school and quickly became very close friends. When the time graduation came around the pair decided to open a studio of their own. Brittany had the skills to run the financial side of things while Chelsea was able to handle the marketing. Santana had volunteered her services to help with things legally. The studio had officially opened two years ago and while they had their growing pains, classes quickly began to fill up, making it so the pair had to hire some more teachers to cover all their classes. 

“How is it being a successful entertainment lawyer?” 

“You know it has its moments,” Santana said back. “As much as I would love to talk for the remainder of my break, I came to see someone else. Is she in her office?” 

“Not that I know of. I would check the big studio first. She was talking about having some ideas for one of the advanced classes.” 

“Will do. It was good talking to you Chelsea,” Santana started as she turned to head down the main hallway. “We need to have you and that fiancee of yours over soon.” 

“We can do that San,” Chelsea said back. 

When Santana got to the biggest of the rooms in the studio she quickly slipped in the door, not wanting to distract her wife. Brittany was in the middle of running through some choreography. Santana was surprised she hadn’t been seen in the giant mirror that covered one of the walls. But when Brittany was in the zone, nothing could break her focus. 

Santana watched her wife dance for a few minutes. Even after all these years watching Brittany dance still took her breath away. She was so majestic with her moves, her long limbs making everything extremely graceful. 

Santana could have watched her dance all day but she knew her time was limited so after Brittany finished a run-through she decided to make her presence known. 

“That was beautiful baby,” she said, causing the blonde to jump. The pair met each other in the middle and shared a quick kiss. 

“Thanks, babe. How long have you been here?” 

“A few minutes,” Santana said. “I finished lunch with Q a little early and decided to come by and visit my favorite person.” 

“Awe Tana you’re my favorite person too,” Brittany said, giving her wife a quick peck. “How was lunch?” 

“Good, she told me all about how Berry said ‘I love you.” 

“Shut up! Are you serious?” Brittany said lightly slapping her wife’s arm. 

“Totally am B, but here’s the kicker, Berry doesn’t remember because she said it as she was falling asleep.” 

“And knowing Q, she doesn’t want to ask Rachie about it,” Brittany said, opening up a bottle of water. 

“Exactly,” Santana said, taking a sip of the water when Brittany offered it to her. “So I might have accidentally told Q about us starting to try for a baby,” Santana said quickly. 

“Should I be upset about that?” Brittany questioned.

“Well no, it's just we never really talked about telling people we were going to try. We thought telling our families about it would just lead to unnecessary stress on both of us and I just didn’t know if we felt the same way about telling our friends.” 

“San, baby, I’m fine with a few people knowing. Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long for you to tell Q,” Brittany said pulling Santana into her arms. “She is one of our closest friends and sometimes you need to talk to someone who isn’t me about things that are going on. I’m not upset at all. In fact, you held out longer than I did.” 

“What do you mean?” Santana said, pulling away from the hug. 

“I told Chels the day I came back here after the trip. I was just so excited and if I didn’t tell someone I felt like I was going to explode.” 

“Well, it makes me feel better that you also told someone too.” 

“This is good news San we should be excited to tell people about it.” 

“Oh, I am excited about it. But I will be even more excited to tell everyone when we have successfully knocked you up. Because you, Brittany Lopez-Pierce, are going to be the hottest pregnant woman ever,” Santana said, kissing her wife and sliding her hand onto the blonde's stomach that would hold their child sometime in the future. 

“Always a sweet talker,” Brittany said after the pair had broken apart. 

“You know it, babe,” Santana said going back in for another kiss. 

They were quickly broken apart by Santana’s phone ringing. 

“Fucking hell. I swear to God whoever that is, I'm going to kill them,” Santana said, pulling her phone out of her pocket after breaking her moment with her wife. 

“What’s up Tana?” 

“I’m going to have to head back to the office,” Santana said sadly. “Something just came up and they need my help with it. But I don’t want to go, I am having such a good time with you right now.” 

“I am too San, but you need to go be the badass lawyer I know you are.” 

“I promise I’ll make it up to you Britt,” Santana said as she went to collect her stuff. 

“I know you will sweetheart,” Brittany said following her wife. Santana took her wife’s hand as they walked through the hallway and towards the front door. Brittany placed a quick kiss on the brunette's lips outside the studio. 

“What time will you be home?” 

“I don’t know. I promise I’ll text you when I do,” Santana said. “I love you, Britt.” 

“Love you too Tana,” Brittany said as Santana turned and headed back towards her office. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a long one and I hope you all enjoyed it!
> 
> As always be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates and also if y'all just want to talk about the fic or glee in general!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I really appreciate all the feedback I got from last weeks chapter! 
> 
> This one is a little angsty and full of Faberry but don't worry- Brittana will be back next week!

Quinn and Rachel quickly settled into a routine, bouncing between spending the night at each other’s places. A few weeks before everyone was set to head back to Ohio for Thanksgiving, the pair was at Quinn’s apartment. The blonde was making dinner while Rachel took a phone call from one of her dad’s in the living room. 

When Rachel came back from the call Quinn could tell she was off. At first, Quinn didn’t want to press but she knew whatever had happened was bugging the brunette. 

“What did your dad want, Rach?”

“He called to tell me that he won’t be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with me in Lima, something about a business trip that can’t be rescheduled,” Rachel said playing with a loose string on her sweater. 

“I’m sorry to hear that babe, what about your other dad? Wasn’t he going to be home too?” 

“Well, he was,” Rachel started. “But he called me the other day and told me he wouldn’t be able to come. Ever since he moved it's been hard to get him to come back. I was hurt at first but at least I would have been able to see dad but I guess that isn’t happening either.” 

Quinn turned from what she was doing to look at her—she didn’t know what Rachel was to her. They had been going out for a couple of weeks now but she didn’t want to put labels on anything. She desperately wanted to be able to call Rachel her girlfriend but she was just waiting for the right moment to broach the topic. 

“It just sucks because this is the first Thanksgiving I’ve been single in a while and I was ready to go home and spend some time with my dads,” the brunette started. “But I guess the universe doesn’t want that for me.” 

The blonde took a moment before saying what was on her mind. It was a big step, considering that they hadn’t even made their relationship official but now was as good a time as ever to ask. 

“Why don’t you come to dinner at my mom’s place with me,” she said, turning her attention back to the stove. “We already bought our plane tickets and I think it would be nice to have my girlfriend with me in case things start going south with Frannie.” 

“What did you call me Quinn?” Rachel said after a moment. 

Quinn felt her heart start to race. She knew it was too soon to ask Rachel but she decided to try her luck and it was coming back to bite her in the ass. When she didn’t respond she heard Rachel speak again. 

“Quinn, did you call me your girlfriend?”

The former cheerleader still didn’t respond but she heard one of the stools along the kitchen island move.

“Quinn look at me,” Rachel said, making the blonde jump because of the closeness. Quinn slowly looked up from the stove, her eyes meeting Rachel’s. “Am I going crazy or did you call me your girlfriend?” 

“Rach if it’s too soon I totally get it—” The blonde was cut off by her favorite pair of lips coming in contact with hers. 

“I would love to go to my girlfriend’s mom’s house for Thanksgiving,” the brunette said back after they had parted. “Now that you’ve officially become my girlfriend can I finally start bragging about how pretty you are on social media?” 

“It’s up to you Rach. It would be nice to be able to say I’m yours and not have to see those posts on the Broadway websites saying you are dating one of your costars.” 

“You check the Broadway websites?” 

“I do occasionally,” Quinn said, grabbing some bowls from the cabinet. “When you are dating a Tony Award winner you gotta know what is going on.” 

“Well I really appreciate that baby,” Rachel said, taking the bowl of pasta from Quinn. She placed a quick peck on her cheek before going back to the stool she was on. “So how are you feeling about going home for Thanksgiving?” 

Quinn sighed as she took her seat next to Rachel. “I’m not as nervous as I was when I first said yes, but I’m still a little scared. I have no idea what I’m going to be walking into with Frannie, yeah mom says that she has changed but how do we know it’s not just for show.” 

“I doubt your mom would let you walk into a trap,” Rachel said. 

“I would hope so,” Quinn said. “But it’ll be nice having you there and if things get really bad I’m sure we could go to Britt’s parent's place and be with them.” 

“We could,” the brunette started. “But I have a feeling everything's going to work out fine with you and Frannie, yes it might be a little uncomfortable at the beginning but it’ll all work out. I just know it.” 

“I sure hope so Rach,” Quinn responded. 

* * *

Quinn was really wishing she had taken Rachel’s offer up to drive from the hotel to her mom’s house. She had a death grip on the steering wheel and even Rachel’s hand on her thigh wasn’t calming her down. 

When they pulled into the driveway of Quinn’s childhood home, the blonde was feeling a whole load of emotions. She was happy to be home with her girlfriend but she was so nervous about what was waiting for her behind the front door. 

“Sweetheart are we going to go inside or are we just going to sit in this rental car all day?” Rachel asked pulling Quinn from her thoughts. 

“Yeah, we can go in. But before we do I just want to lay some ground rules,” Quinn said taking one of Rachel’s hands in hers. “The first time someone says something bad about you or our relationship we are out of here. I don’t want you to have to deal with their close-mindedness.”

Rachel nodded as her girlfriend spoke. She let her have that moment before persuading Quinn out of the car. The pair held hands as they walked to the front door. Quinn quickly pressed the doorbell and as they waited for someone to open the door she felt Rachel give her hand a reassuring squeeze. 

Quinn was about to give Rachel a kiss when the large wood door swung open. 

“Quinnie! I’m so glad you made it,” Judy said, pulling her daughter into a hug. “And you brought a friend with you,” she said as the pair pulled apart. Judy led them into the foyer of the house. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you when you called last week. I hope it’s okay.” Judy quickly nodded and Quinn continued. “I know you’ve met back when we were in high school but mom this is my girlfriend Rachel. Rach this is my mom.” 

“It’s so nice to see you again Ms. Fabray,” Rachel said extending her hand. “Thank you so much for letting me into your home today.” 

“Call me Judy, sweetie,” she said, shaking the brunette's hand. “It is no big deal. You are my daughter's girlfriend after all,” Judy said, making eye contact with Quinn as she finished her statement. 

Quinn’s arm quickly wrapped around Rachel’s waist after the handshake. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you sooner mom, it's just we just made things official the other day, and then things at work got crazy and I’ve been working on my book—” 

“Quinn sweetie, stop,” Judy said cupping Quinn’s face in her hands. “It is fine. I’m glad you brought Rachel and I’ll be happy as long as you are happy. Are you happy Quinnie?”

Quinn nodded with her mom’s hands still on her face. 

“Good,” Judy said, removing her hands. 

“Mom who was that at the door?” said a voice that approached the trio. 

Rachel watched as a blonde woman who looked not more than five years older than Quinn came into the foyer. The actress felt her girlfriend tense up next to her. 

“Quinn?” the woman said. 

“Hi Frannie,” Quinn said back. She immediately made herself look smaller. Rachel had seen Quinn when she was feeling self-conscious before but there was just something about this time that was really different. 

The four women stood there in tense silence for a few moments before Rachel decided to break it. 

“Hello Frannie, I’m Quinn’s girlfriend, Rachel,” the brunette said, snapping Quinn out of whatever trance she was in. The youngest blonde looked at her sister’s face searching for the smallest reason to leave and never come back. “It’s so nice to meet you. Quinn has told me lots about you.” 

“MOMMY!” a little voice came quickly followed by the sound of little feet running towards the foyer before Frannie could respond. 

Quinn watched as a little girl with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes launched herself at her sister. Quinn didn’t know how to approach the pair before her. She hardly thought Frannie would tell her daughter about her aunt that was a disgrace to the family. 

“Abby I told you not to run in the house,” a male voice came from the hallway. 

“It’s okay honey, I have her,” Frannie said as the man joined the group. “Ryan this is my sister and her girlfriend Rachel.” 

The three quickly said their hello’s before Judy ushered everyone into the living room. Quinn quickly pulled Rachel on to the loveseat across from the couch, leaving it for her sister and her husband. During the shuffle, the little girl, Abby, had ended up with Judy and they were sitting together on one of the chairs. 

“Gramma, that girl looks like the picture of Auntie Quinn you showed me,” Abby said. 

Quinn did a double-take. There was no way that her niece knew who she was. It just wasn’t possible. 

“What if I told you that was Auntie Quinn, Abby-baby?” Judy said to the little girl who was playing with her necklace. Quinn watched as Abby slowly looked up from her spot on her grandma’s lap and made eye contact with her. Quinn flashed a small smile and waved at the toddler, and the next thing she knew she was looking dead into a pair of bright blue eyes. 

“Is Gramma right? Are you Auntie Quinn?” Quinn took a moment to regain her speech. She felt Rachel’s hand strong in hers as she spoke. 

“I sure am. And what’s your name princess?” Quinn watched as her niece’s face lit up. 

“My name is Abigail but everyone calls me Abby, cept sometimes daddy calls me Abs.” 

“It is very nice to meet you Abby. It looks like I am going to have to come up with my own nickname for you then,” Quinn said smiling back at Abby. “Since we are introducing people, Abby, this is my girlfriend Rachel.” 

“Hi Abby,” Rachel said. “I really like your dress. Gold is one of my favorite colors.” 

Quinn watched her girlfriend and niece talk and at that moment she fell even more in love with the brunette. 

As time passed, Abby had wiggled her way onto the loveseat, wedged between Rachel and Quinn. Quinn started to become more comfortable with everything that was going on around her. She quickly hit it off with Ryan, who had the same favorite author as her, and Frannie picked Rachel’s brain about what it is like to be on Broadway and perform in front of masses of people. 

“Well I’m going to go start finishing up dinner,” Judy said a little while later. “Abby do you want to come help me?”

“Only if Rachie will come help too,” Abby said, pulling out a pouty face and using it on Rachel. 

“I would love to help you, Miss Abigail,” Rachel said, helping Abby off the couch. She placed a quick kiss on Quinn’s lips before being led to the kitchen by Abby. 

“I should probably call my folks and wish them a happy Thanksgiving,” Ryan said, getting up from next to Frannie. “I’ll help your mom when I’m done.” 

“You might need to help Rachel more,” Quinn said. “I love her but she can’t cook to save her life.” 

“I’ll keep an eye on her then,” Ryan said with a laugh as he walked out of the room. 

This was the moment Quinn had been dreading the most. While all signs up to this point showed that Frannie really had changed, Quinn still felt uneasy. 

“I’m sorry Quinn,” Frannie said breaking the silence. “I know you might not forgive me right now but I just need you to know how sorry I truly am. I didn’t know how much my actions hurt you back then but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get you to forgive me.” 

“When was the last time you saw him?” Quinn asked after a few moments. 

“A few months before Abby was born. Mom had told me that you got your masters from Columbia and you had got hired at some big publishing house. We went to lunch and he kept saying all these bad things about you, like how no respectable publishing house would hire you and something just went off inside me,” Frannie started. “I told him that I was proud of you and all you have done. He got upset with me, as I expected him to and I haven’t seen him since.” 

“Well I appreciate you saying that to him but why did you never try to contact me if you felt that way two years ago,” Quinn said. 

“I didn’t know if you even wanted to speak to me, let alone see me,” Frannie said. “When you got pregnant I took his side without even thinking about what you were going through. I said some really bad things to you and at first, I barely forgave myself so I had a strong feeling you wouldn’t either.” 

“Yeah what you said hurt but what hurt more was on that day I lost everything. We were inseparable until you went off to college and it hurt to hear those things from my parents but it hurt more to hear them from you. You were my best friend and just like that you were gone,” Quinn said as the tears started to flow down her cheeks. 

Frannie quickly moved to sit next to her younger sister. She pulled her into a hug and just let Quinn cry for a while. 

“You know mom was so happy when you decided to let her back into your life?” Frannie said once Quinn had calmed down a little bit. “She would tell me that it was the first step to getting the family back together. I was a little bit more cautious than she was but I was still hopeful. She would tell me everything about what was going on in your life and as Abby got older she started to show her pictures of the two of us hoping that one day you would get to meet her.” 

“She’s adorable,” Quinn said, wiping the last of her tears from her face. 

“Thank you,” Frannie started. “I really want you in her life Quinn, yeah she has family from Ryan’s side but I want her to know her Auntie Quinn, you are my only sibling, and if Abby is a quarter of the woman you are I’ll be a proud mother.”

Quinn took a deep breath before asking the question that had been on her mind since she had arrived at the house. 

“And you’re okay with me being gay?” 

“Quinn I just want you to be happy. You’ve been through hell and back and if being with a woman makes you happy that is perfectly fine me,” Frannie said. “I was a little surprised when mom told me but if this is who you are it doesn’t change how I feel about you. I will say Rachel is already loads better than any of the douchebags you dated in high school.” 

“Yeah she is pretty great,” Quinn said with a laugh before the pair slipped into a comfortable silence. “I forgive you, Frannie. It might take a little bit of time for our relationship to get back to where it was when we were younger but I think we can get there eventually.” 

“I’ll give you as much time as you need baby sis, I’m here for the long haul,” Frannie said, pulling Quinn into a hug. “I’ve missed you Q.” 

“I’ve missed you too Fran,” Quinn said, returning the hug. The pair embraced each other for almost a minute before they heard someone come into the living room. The pair looked up and saw Rachel and Abby standing together. 

“Mommy Gramma says it’s time to eat so she told me and Rachie to come and get you and Auntie Quinn so we did,” the toddler said rather quickly. 

“Okay baby let's go eat then,” Frannie said, getting off the love seat as Quinn followed. Abby quickly ran back to be with Rachel. “You two better not break up, I don’t know how my daughter is already attached to your girlfriend, and yet here we are.” 

“Rachel just like that,” Quinn said as she walked towards the dining room. “And I would never break up with her, she is the best thing I’ve ever had.” 

When they got to the dining room, Abby was trying to convince her dad to let her sit in between her aunt and aunt’s girlfriend because she ‘had lots to tell them.’ Once Quinn and Rachel had said it was okay with them, Abby jumped into Quinn’s arms and kept thanking her. 

Once everyone was seated the conversation came naturally. Frannie told Quinn and Rachel how her and Ryan had gotten together and the girls had done the same in return. Abby told everyone how her dance classes were going and explained why Ariel was the best princess (it led to a rather serious discussion between the two-year-old and Rachel, who argued that the best princess was in fact, Belle).

These were the moments that Quinn had been wanting for ages and yet again she had to thank the beautiful brunette sitting two seats down from her.

Quinn finally had her family all in one place—well part of it, Santana and Brittany were just down the street at the Pierce’s house, Mercedes was across town with her folks and the rest of her family was back in New York. But she had some of the most important people in her life all in one place and as she met eyes with Rachel she felt like she really was home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! That one was kinda heavy. But thank you so much for reading!
> 
> As always be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates and also if y'all just want to talk about the fic or glee in general!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay on this chapter. Things were crazy this week with college and my job but anywho here is the next chapter!

Days off were few and far between for Santana so when Mercedes asked her to come by the studio at first she was hesitant. Yes, she wanted to see one of her best friends and see how she was doing but she also didn’t want to leave the apartment. December had come to New York and Santana didn’t want to leave her warm apartment for the cold Brooklyn streets. 

But Santana had nothing keeping her in the apartment that day. Brittany had left early that morning heading to the studio to get a jump start on choreography for the upcoming winter concert for the studio and probably wouldn’t be home until late that night. 

After making sure that Stevie had everything that she needed, Santana bundled herself up and started to make the trek to Tribeca. 

It took her a little bit longer than she originally thought it would but when she finally got out of the taxi in front of the studio she felt like she had made the right choice. She shot Mercedes a quick text letting her know she was there and then sat on one of the expensive ass chairs waiting for Mercedes to come to get her. 

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” Mercedes said coming into the lobby of the studio. 

“Hey I’m not the one who keeps ditching the weekly get-togethers,” Santana said getting up and hugging her friend. “I was starting to think you had forgotten about us.” 

“I could never forget about you Satan,” Mercedes said, leading the pair back to the booth. “Brittany would never let me fully disappear from you.” 

Santana let out a fake laugh as Mercedes opened the door to the studio she was working in. The Latina flashed a smile and nod to Mercedes producer and started to lower herself into one of the chairs. 

“So Wheezy, why did you need me to haul my ass all the way out here for?” 

“Can I not just ask one of my friends to come by and hang out while I work?” 

“You could but you only ask me to come by if you have questions with a contract your agent brings by or you need help with a song you are working on. And I know for a fact you don’t have any contracts that need your attention right now so that leaves us with you needing help with a song,” Santana said looking at her friend. 

“You wound me, Santana,” Mercedes said. Santana lifted one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows at Mercedes. “Fine. You got me. We’ve been working on this song for ages and it’s just missing something. And we have no idea what to add.”   
Santana nodded, signaling Mercedes to play the song. At first, listen Santana really liked it, but she always liked the songs her friend wrote. It was an upbeat song with an R&B feel. She did agree it was missing something but she couldn’t put her finger on it. 

“I got it,” Santana said after the fourth listen of the song. “Fade the drums out under the bridge.”

The producer quickly faded the instrument and played the song back to the group. All three sat holding their breaths as the bridge approached. 

“You are a mastermind,” Mercedes said as the song ended. “You haven’t been here for an hour and you already figured out what we’ve been working on or days. I still don’t get why you aren’t working in a studio for someone.” 

Santana shrugged at her friend's statement. There were days where she missed the music. She wished she could have made it like Mercedes or Rachel but somethings just don’t work out. She loves what she does but moments like this made her wonder if she gave up on her dreams too soon. Every day she sends her wife off to her job where she gets to dance and teach people the thing she loves. Berry was back to doing the thing she was born to do on the stage and Quinn was in the beginning stages of writing a book, something she only told Santana she wanted to do in high school. 

“Dreams change,” Santana said less confident than she would have thought. 

Mercedes could tell this was a sore subject with her friend so she decided to drop it. “Well, I appreciate the help with that. Maybe I’ll put you as a producer on the tracklist.” Mercedes watched her friend as she played around with her phone, avoiding eye contact. “C’mon Tana let’s go get some lunch. I’ll let you pick where we go since you always have something to say about the places I choose.” 

“It’s because you choose uptight, stuffy places for the rich. You know that’s not my scene unless it’s for work so why would I want to spend time with a friend there,” Santana said as she put her coat on and did it up. 

“That happened once,” Mercedes said as they left the studio. 

“Yeah and that’s one too many times,” Santana said as they reached the door leading to the street. Santana stuffed her hands deeper into her pockets as the pair came in contact with the cold air outside the studio “Fucking hell why is it so fucking cold.” 

“Santana you’ve lived here for five years, how are you not used to this by now? Hell the winters in Ohio were worse than this at times?” 

Santana shrugged as she led the pair to a diner around the corner from the studio. The two didn’t say much on the walk but once they were seated Mercedes couldn’t wait anymore. 

“Okay I’ve let you stew for a while now, you want to tell me what is going on in that head of yours?” 

“It’s nothing,” Santana said, playing with the straw in her water.

“It’s obviously more than nothing if it’s made you this upset. I haven’t seen you look this upset since Britt was out sick for that week of senior year.” 

“Sometimes I just regret it ya know? I regret not trying harder to make it in the industry. Don’t get me wrong I love my job, I’m still connected to the industry but it's just not the way I would have wanted it to be. And being in that studio made me just think about it more.” 

“I get it San. If it hurts too much we can stop meeting there and I’ll stop calling you when we need help. I don’t want to ruin this friendship we have.”

“No that’s not necessary. I love helping you. Plus it's nice to know that I still have some of the talent I had back in the day.” 

“I doubt all that talent disappeared in a few years,” Mercedes said before ordering her food. “You know you are more than welcome to come by whenever to show people why you really were one of the best vocalists when we were in school.” 

Santana gave her friend a small nod and Mercedes took it as a sign to drop the obviously sensitive subject and direct the conversation to something that she knew would brighten the Latina’s mood. 

“So do you know what you are going to get that lovely wife of yours for Christmas?” 

“Ugh don’t even bring that up to me Cedes,” Santana said, throwing her head back. “I have no clue what to get her. We decided to not get each other anything super expensive because we need to save some money but even then I have no clue.” 

The pair had decided once they got home from Thanksgiving to avoid expensive presents this year and put that money to what Brittany called the ‘Let’s knock me up fund.’ Santana was all for using the money she would spend on lots of presents that would be forgotten by this time next year for something like starting a family with her wife. But she still wanted to do something nice for Brittany. 

“Plus we aren’t going back to Lima this year since we went back for Thanksgiving, I just want to make it as special of Christmas as possible for her. Things at the studio are about to ramp up for her and you know how stressed she gets about it.” 

“Why don’t you see if you guy’s parents want to come out for Christmas. I know Britt would really love that.” 

“I was thinking about that but I still want to get her an actual present too,” Santana said thanking the waiter as he set down her sandwich. 

“Well after you finish that food we are going to find the perfect gift for your perfect wife.” 

About twenty minutes later Santana was being dragged into the fourth store since they left the diner. 

“Wheezy I told you I’m not going to buy anything expensive, why are you bringing me into this store,” Santana complained as she was led into the jewelry store. 

“You never know Santana, you might find something here for her, you never were good at listening to instructions.” 

Santana sighed as she followed Mercedes through the store. She took in all the rings and earrings knowing Brittany would kill her if she got her that for Christmas. 

She was about ready to tell Mercedes they should go when something caught her eye. It was a gold heart necklace with four gems inside the heart. It was so simple but it was so Brittany. Mercedes watched as her friend stared at the necklace. 

“Something catch your eye, Tana?” the singer asked. 

“Yeah, something did,” Santana said with a small smile. She quickly waved over someone who worked at the store and asked about the necklace. Her first question was about the price, she didn’t want to fall in love with something she couldn’t buy for her wife. 

“It’s $100 without the stones,” the salesperson told the Latina. “It’s an additional $30 for each stone up to five total. But you don’t have to add them all at once. You can add as many as you want right now and if you want to add more you can whenever you would like.” 

Santana thought long about if she really wanted to do this. $160 wasn’t that much money. Hell, she spent more on Brittany’s engagement ring. But the thing that Santana loved the most was that they could add more stones whenever. This was a gift that not only kept a piece of her close to Brittany’s heart but also any future children they had too. 

“I’ll take it,” Santana said after thinking about it. Yes, Brittany was going to be a little upset she spent more money than they agreed on for the present but Santana couldn’t pass it up. Plus she was sure that her wife would be fine once she told her about how they could add stones. 

The Latina quickly told the salesperson the two stones she would want in it now, Peridot for herself and Aquamarine for Brittany. The man helping the pair said the necklace would be ready in about thirty minutes since they had the equipment to place the gems in that store. Santana quickly paid, making sure she used the credit card that Brittany never used. 

“She’s going to love it, Santana,” Mercedes said once the necklace had been given to Santana. 

“I really hope so,” she said looking down at the necklace. Santana quickly put the small box into her purse and followed Mercedes back to the studio where they parted. Mercedes promised to try and make it to the next get together at the Lopes-Pierce house. 

Feeling reinvigorated and wanting to do something for the woman that meant so much to her, Santana shot her wife a quick text asking her what time she would be home from the studio and then started with her plan. 

The first thing she did was call her parents to see if they would want to come to New York for Christmas. She knew the apartment would be cramped, having six people there but she would give up her personal space to make this Christmas the best for Brittany. 

It was easy to convince her parents to spend the holiday with them. Her mother kept rambling about how she’d always wanted to come to the city for Christmas and how she was upset it took Santana that long to invite them to stay with them. 

After telling her mom to keep their arrival a surprise from Brittany and to let her know when she booked their flight she hung up. During the phone call, she had made it all the way to the store by the apartment and was starting to get the stuff to make dinner for her wife. 

She lugged the three bags full of things for dinner as well as some other stuff they needed back to the apartment and after putting everything away she pulled out her phone. Santana quickly found the contact she was looking for and hit the call button. 

“Santana is everything okay?” the voice on the other line asked with slight panic. “Are you okay? Is Brittany okay?” 

“Everyone is fine Whitney,” Santana said back to her mother-in-law with a small chuckle. “But what I want to talk to you about does have to do with Brittany.” 

“What is it, sweetie?” Whitney said. 

“So you know how we aren’t coming back to Lima for Christmas because we need to save some money?” Santana started. She felt bad for not telling their family the reason why they were saving but she knew if they were aware the pair were going to start trying for a baby they wouldn't have a moment of solace. “I was wondering if you and Pierce would be open to spending Christmas with my parents and us here in New York.” 

There was silence on the other side of the line for a few moments. 

“We would love to Santana,” Whitney said as Santana released the breath she didn’t know she was holding. 

“Fantastic. But here’s the deal. You can’t tell Britt you guys are coming. I want to surprise her for Christmas,” Santana said. She knew it was going to be hard for the Pierce’s to keep this to themselves. Even when they were little kids Brittany would tell her parents everything and they would do the same for her. “I know its a lot to ask but—”

“If you want to surprise our daughter with her family on Christmas we will make sure it happens,” Whitney said, cutting her daughter-in-law off. “You are too good to her Santana.” 

“You know how I feel about your daughter, I would do anything for her,” Santana said, feeling her cheeks start to heat up. “And I want to make this Christmas special for her.” 

“I know you love her but it seems like every year you love her a little bit more.” 

“I love her more than anything in the world,” Santana said looking at the ring on her left hand. Santana quickly told her mother-in-law to talk to her own mother about making arrangements for their flight in. 

After hanging up Santana connected her phone to the Bluetooth speaker in the kitchen and started to make dinner. 

She quickly fell into a rhythm, chopping vegetables and chicken for Brittany’s favorite dinner. Santana hummed along with the music as she made the fajitas for dinner. She knew Brittany loved them and so she wanted to treat her wife after her day at the studio. 

She was so engrossed in plating everything that she didn’t hear the door to the apartment open. Santana didn’t know Brittany was even home until she spoke. 

“Damn if working late means I get to come home to this very hot picture, I’ll start staying at the studio late every night,” Brittany said as she watched her wife in the kitchen. 

“You better not,” Santana started as Brittany came closer to her. “I already miss you enough as it is.” 

“Awww I miss you too baby,” Brittany said leaning in for a kiss. “So what did you do today? I know you didn’t know what you were going to do when I left this morning.” 

“I spent the day with Mercedes,” Santana said, giving a plate to Brittany. “She needed help with something at the studio so I went by and helped her.” 

“That sounds like fun,” Brittany said as she took a bite of her dinner. “Was that all you guys did?” 

“We went to lunch too,” Santana started. “And then we went shopping for a little bit.” 

“Oooo what did you buy me?” Brittany said, wiggling her eyebrows. 

“Who says I bought anything for you?” 

“I know you San, you could be shopping for someone else but you would still come home with something for me.” 

Santana went to respond but she knew her wife was right. She could be out for a simple thing like groceries and a small trinket would remind her of her wife and she would have to get it. 

“That’s what I thought,” Brittany said as she watched Santana. “So what did you get me?”

“I am happy to announce I didn’t buy you anything,” Santana said proudly. At that moment she was very happy she had hidden the necklace when she got home. “In fact, I didn’t buy anything at all because we are trying to save money for our future.” 

“Well I am very proud of you,” Brittany said getting up from the table. Santana got up to follow her wife to the kitchen. After putting her plate in the skink, Santana grabbed one of Brittany’s hands. "Thank you so much for making me dinner baby, I really enjoyed it." 

"It was no biggie. I had to treat my wifey to dinner after a long day," Santana said, putting some music on for the pair. “Dance with me.”

“I would love to dance with you baby,” Brittany said, pulling Santana in. “You still are my favorite dance partner.” 

“And you are mine,” Santana said as the pair started swaying in the kitchen. “I love you B.” 

“I love you too Santana,” Brittany said, kissing her wife. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that one! The ending wasn't my favorite but I'm happy with how it turned out. 
> 
> As always be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates and also if y'all just want to talk about the fic or glee in general!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow 10 chapters huh? What a journey this has been so far. 
> 
> This one was a fun one two write but I want to give a special shout out to Brittany aka @proudly-so on Tumblr for helping me with this chapter and also for ranting about all things Brittana with me! 
> 
> Any ways here is the next chapter!

It took a lot of sneaking on Santana’s part to get both sets of parents to the city without Brittany found out. But being the best wife she is, she was able to make it all work as smoothly as possible. 

She was able to get all four parents into the city the morning of the Christmas recital for the studio. It was the 23rd and she had convinced everyone to stay until the 26th. On the morning of the recital, Brittany was out of the apartment way before Santana had even thought about getting out of bed. 

The Latina was out of the office from the day before through the first of the year so she was able to go pick everyone up when their flight got in that afternoon. When Britt had asked her what she was going to do the night before on her day off Santana had just shrugged it off saying she was going to spend the day with Stevie. 

About an hour before the flight was supposed to land Santana walked down to the parking structure that held her car in around the corner from their apartment. She hated having to pay monthly to park her car somewhere but having a car became useful for things like this. 

She quickly hopped in the car to avoid the coldness, grateful that the car was at least in a covered structure so she wouldn’t have to scrape it. After letting the car warm up for a little bit she headed towards the airport. 

Once she arrived at LaGuardia she sent her mom a text to let her know where to pick them up when their flight landed. She sat on her phone and scrolled through social media while she waited. She sent Quinn a quick text making sure that the blonde and her girlfriend were going to be at the concert tonight. 

_ We wouldn’t miss it S. I can’t wait to see what insane choreography your wife has come up with this time.  _

Santana let out a chuckle as she read the text. Brittany had done some pretty crazy choreo in her year’s with the studio, she was pretty confident this year would be on the chill side. 

_ Lol. I would hope the stuff she did isn’t too crazy, she was teaching a class of 6-year-olds this fall. But she could have for her advanced class. You know how secretive she can be with these things.  _

_ Well, Rach and I are excited to see how everything looks.  _

Before Santana could respond she was getting a phone call from her mom telling her which terminal they needed to be picked up at. 

As Santana pulled the car around to the terminal she spotted her mother first. She quickly waved to her daughter as Santana pulled up to the curb. She quickly hopped out of the car after putting it in park to help everyone with their stuff. 

Before she could say a word she was pulled into a bear hug by her mother. 

“Oh I’ve missed you so much mija,” Maribel said hugging her daughter. 

“Mami you saw me a few weeks ago for Thanksgiving. It hasn’t been that long.” 

“It was a long time,” Maribel said looking her daughter in the eyes. “One day when you have kids you will understand.” 

“Leave her alone Mari,” Santana’s father David. He turned to his daughter and gave her a quick hug. “How are you amorcito?” 

“I’m good papi. Actually, I’m really glad you all were okay with spending Christmas here instead of Ohio.” 

“Well when you said you wanted to make this Christmas special for our Brittany we couldn’t say no,” Whitney said, giving Santana a quick hug. 

“Speaking of Brittany she is at the studio right now finishing things up for the concert tonight so we should probably get home so we can drop your stuff off and get ready before we surprise her at the venue.” 

The group quickly loaded into Santana’s car and made the ride back to the apartment. 

Once everyone was settled back at the house, Santana quickly jumped into the shower knowing she wouldn’t have a long time until they had to leave to head to the theater where the recital would be held. After stepping out of the shower she threw on some sweats and a t-shirt and went to go check on everyone. 

Pierce was sitting on the floor and playing with Stevie, her dad was sitting on the sofa surfing channels and her mother and mother-in-law were nowhere to be seen. 

“Where are mom and Whitney?” Santana said, drying her hair with a towel. 

“The kitchen, you know your mother. She thinks you and Brittany still live off of takeout,” David said looking up from the TV. 

“We haven’t done that in years,” Santana said heading towards the kitchen. Leave it to her mother to start cooking the minute she got to the apartment. “Mom what are you doing? I thought we were going to go to dinner after the recital?”

“I know that Santana,” Maribel said standing at the stove. Santana went to stand next to Whitney who was sitting at one of the stools at the island. “But I opened your fridge to get some water and saw you had all the stuff for my enchiladas and I just thought it would be nice to make them for you both.” 

“Oh well thank you,” Santana said. “We do have to start thinking about leaving in a little bit if we want to see Britt before the show.” 

“I’ll be done with these in 10 minutes mija, but I know it will take you longer than that to get ready so I’m not worried.” 

“Hey, I resent that,” Santana said with a small pout. “I’m a lot better now than I was in high school.” 

“Brittany tells me differently,” Whitney said with a small smile. 

“Ugh whatever,” Santana said, turning on her heel and heading back to her bedroom to get ready. After curling her hair and doing her makeup she set out to decide what to wear. It didn’t take long before she settled on a red cocktail dress she knew her wife loved. She slipped on a pair of black pumps and grabbed her leather jacket and headed out of her room to round up the parents. 

It took ten minutes to get everyone out of the apartment and in a cab but once they were finally on the way to the theater Santana was able to take a deep breath. She got a text from Rachel and Mercedes on the ride that they were already there and in the seats that Brittany had reserved for them. Once Santana was sure that their parents could come down and surprise Brittany she had called Chelsea to put four more seats on hold. She told her not to tell her wife about the surprise and the redhead has agreed. 

After unloading the cab and paying Santana quickly found her friends and pulled out her phone. 

_ I just got here baby. Should I come backstage to wish my beautiful wife good luck or can you come out here and say hi before the show starts?  _

It took two minutes before Brittany responded. 

_ I can come out there. Meet me by the concession stand.  _

After she got the text from Brittany she told her parents as well as Whitney and Pierce to follow her and she led them to the concession stand. She told everyone to wait behind the corner so they could surprise Brittany. 

Santana was looking around for Brittany when she felt two arms wrap around her waist. 

“You look so hot tonight baby,” Brittany said in her wife's ear. 

Santana quickly turned around to take in her wife's appearance. Brittany was in a short-sleeved black wrap dress that showed off her cleavage as well as legs. She paired it with a pair of red heels. Her hair was in a high ponytail and her makeup was on the natural side. 

“Well thank you, but I would like to say you look beautiful too,” Santana said leaning in for a kiss. 

After they parted Brittany rested her head against Santana’s. 

“I love doing these recitals but I cannot wait for it to be over so I can spend all my time with you,” Brittany said. “Plus we are celebrating hopefully our last Christmas together as just a family of two this year. It sucks we can’t be without family back in Ohio but I’m sure if they knew why we couldn’t come out there they would understand. I’m sure we can just video chat with them on Christmas.” 

“I don’t think we will need to do that Britt,” Santana said. Brittany looked back at her wife with a confused look. “I know how sad you were when we decided to not go home so I pulled some strings..”

“Santana, what are __ you talking about?” 

“Stay here,” Santana said with a quick kiss. “I’ll be right back.” 

The next thing Brittany knew her wife was gone. She wasn’t gone long though. Santana rounded the corner and Brittany felt tears starting to fill her eyes. Soon she was being wrapped up in a hug from her parents. 

“I thought if we couldn’t go to them, they might be down to come to us,” Santana said after Brittany had parted from her parents. Before Santana could react Brittany was pulling her into a kiss that was definitely not appropriate for the space they were in but Santana didn’t care. 

“I love you so much Tana,” Brittany said. 

“I love you too Britt-Britt,” Santana said. Brittany then went to hug Maribel and David. Whitney then explained how Santana wanted to surprise her with all of them for Christmas. The group talked for a little bit longer until Brittany realized she had to go backstage since the show was about to start. 

After their parents were out of earshot Brittany turned to her wife. “You are the best wife ever,” she said kissing Santana's cheek. 

“No you are,” Santana said. “Now go back there and show everyone why you are one of the best choreographers in the city.” 

As Brittany turned to leave Santana gave her a quick pat on the ass. Brittany turned to look at her wife with a light blush covering her cheeks. 

“Te amo mi amor,” the Latina said. 

“I love you too baby,” Brittany said, flashing Santana a smile as she walked away. 

* * *

After the show was over everyone congratulated Brittany on a show well done, Quinn tried to convince the group to go out for drinks but that idea was quickly shot down. 

“Baby I think Santana and Brittany want to spend some time with their family,” Rachel said wrapping her arm around her blonde’s waist. “I’m sure we can go get drinks and celebrate Brittany’s extraordinary choreography some other time.” 

“Berry is right Q. Our parents got here just before the show and this lovely lady right here,” Santana said motioning to Brittany with her head. “Has barely slept in the last three weeks so I think it's best for me to take her home and put her to bed.” 

The group quickly said their goodbyes and made their way back to their respective homes. 

The next two days were filled with last-minute shopping trips, showing their folks the sights and cooking. Lots and lots of cooking. Santana was pretty sure her mother was trying to cook her and Britt out of house and home. 

But it was nice, having everyone together for Christmas. Brittany had already thanked her multiple times for making it all happen, telling her that having their family together was the best present she could have gotten her. Little did Brittany know that Santana had another present for her. 

On Christmas morning Santana woke up to soft patterns being traced down her arm. The bed was warm and she knew she could stay in bed all day but she could hear both their mom’s making breakfast and knowing Brittany she was probably bursting at the seams to open presents. 

“Merry Christmas baby,” Brittany said looking down at her wife. She placed a chaste kiss on her lips. “How did you sleep?” 

“So good with my personal heater next to me,” Santana said cuddling closer to her wife. “Merry Christmas babe. Can we just stay here all day?” 

“Mmm as much as I would love to, we both know that wouldn’t fly with four parents in the apartment,” Brittany said kissing Santana’s hair. “Plus I think your mom is making huevos rancheros just like if we were in Lima and I know you love them.” 

“I do love them but I love cuddling with you more,” Santana said. “Plus out there is cold and that doesn’t sound fun.” 

“How about we make a deal?” the blonde said looking down at the brunette in her arms. “Would you get out of bed if I gave you one of my Julliard hoodies? You always say they are warmer than yours.” 

Santana was silent for a few minutes before she started to separate herself from Brittany. 

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting for my hoodie that my wife promised me.” 

Brittany let out a small laugh and kissed Santana before hopping off the bed and heading towards the couple's dresser. She grabbed the hoodie she knew was Santana’s favorite and closed the drawer all the sweatshirts were in. 

“Here sleepyhead,” Brittany said, tossing the hoodie at the bed. A muffled groan came from the bed as the hoodie landed on the brunette who was still laying there. 

It took Brittany another 10 minutes to get Santana out of bed and fully dressed. 

“Well look who finally decided to join us,” David said as the couple came into the living room. “Merry Christmas girls.” 

“Merry Christmas Papi,” Santana said, hugging him. 

Meanwhile, Brittany had sat down next to her dad and was giving him a hug. “How long until breakfast is done?” 

“Last time I checked, your mother and Whitney were almost done,” David said. “But that was twenty minutes ago.” 

“I’ll go check on them,” Brittany said hopping off the couch. She flashed Santana a small smile as she left the room. Santana’s smile lingered as Brittany left. 

The three in the living room made idle small talk until Brittany came back a few minutes later. 

“Breakfast is done,” Brittany said. She watched as everyone stood up and headed to the small dining room in the apartment. As Santana headed towards the room she was stopped by Brittany. 

“What’s up baby?” the brunette said. 

“Nothing. I just wanted to thank you for making this the best Christmas ever,” Brittany said pulling Santana close and wrapping her arms around her waist. “I just love you so much. And I can’t stop thinking about how this could possibly be our last Christmas as just the two of us.” 

Santana wrapped her arms around the taller woman’s neck. “It really could be. There could be a mini Britt-Britt on the way.” 

“Nope. It’s totally going to be a mini Santana,” Brittany said resting her forehead against Santana’s. “But no matter who they look like you are going to be the best mom ever Tana.” 

“No you are going to be the best mom,” Santana said. She got on her tippy toes and kissed her wife. Brittany pulled Santana closer and kissed her back. 

“I hate to ruin the moment but if the two of you lovebirds don’t get in there soon there won’t be any food left,” Whitney said startling the pair. 

Brittany took Santana’s hand and led her into the dining room where everyone was already eating. 

The Latina kissed her wife's hand after they were seated with their food. 

“Santi when you asked us to come out here you said you guys were trying to save money, any plans with that money, or are you finally becoming an adult?” 

“Ummm—”

“We just wanted to get a headstart on saving in case we want to move,” the blonde said quickly. “We aren’t thinking about moving right now but we just want to be ready when the time comes.” 

Santana mouthed a thank you to Brittany as their parents quickly accepted the reason Brittany had come up with. Santana and Brittany kept fielding questions from their families about all sorts of things as breakfast went on. 

After all the dishes were put away and the leftovers were in the fridge the six people were seated in the living room to exchange presents. Whitney and Pierce got Brittany some new clothes to wear around the studio and they got Santana a new leather briefcase for work. The Lopez’s got the girls a new rice cooker after Brittany had told them how Santana got pissed off with their old one and broke it. The girls got both sets of parents a framed photo of the two of them that Quinn had taken on one of the many double dates they had been on with Quinn and Rachel in the last few months. 

The rest of the day was spent just lounging around until dinnertime. Quinn and Rachel came over for dinner and to spend some time with their friends. Santana teased the former cheerleader on if she had popped the question yet. Quinn had blushed and said no but Rachel was quick to show off the pair of earrings that the blonde had gotten her for Hanukkah. 

After everyone had left and the parents had gone to bed since they had an early flight back home, Santana and Brittany found themselves alone for the first time since that morning. The Latina knew this was her moment to give Brittany her present. 

“I have a present for you,” Santana said. 

“Tana I thought our parents coming to New York was my present.” 

“It was part of it. I saw this when I was out with Mercedes and I had to get it for you.” 

“Baby we promised each other no gifts this year.” 

“I know and if you don’t like it we can totally take it back but I have a feeling you will want to keep it.” 

Santana pulled out the small black box and handed it to Brittany. She watched as the blonde slowly opened the box and looked at the necklace. Santana watched as Brittany picked up the heart with pointer and thumb. 

“San—” 

“It has both of our birthstones in it so you can always keep it close to your heart. And it gets better. It can hold up to five stones so when we do have a baby we can put their stone in there and the stones of any other kids we have. If it’s too much I can totally take it back—” 

“Santana, it's perfect. You are perfect,” Brittany said kissing her wife. “Will you put it on me?” 

Santana nodded as she took the necklace from the box. Brittany pulled her hair up from her neck as Santana put the piece of jewelry around her. Santana felt her hands shaking as she did up the clasp. She placed a kiss on the base of her wife's neck after it was secured. 

“All set,” Santana said. “Merry Christmas babe.” 

“Merry Christmas Santana. Thank you for making this one the best one ever.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed some Brittana Christmas fluff! I think there is going to be one more chapter before we have a time jump! 
> 
> As always be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates and also if y'all just want to talk about the fic or glee in general!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Sorry for the slight delay with this chapter, it's finals right now for me and writers block is a bitch to deal with. 
> 
> Anyways I appreciate all the continuous support for the fic it means a lot to me. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy Chapter 11!

The week between Christmas and New Years' was such a blur for the four girls. While Brittany and Santana both had work off and were spending some much needed time together, Quinn was not only trying to get her work done at the publishing house but her agent wanted her manuscript done by the end of February. Rachel’s new workshop had been announced a few days after Christmas so she was in the process of dealing with all sorts of interviews about the project. 

A few days before the 31st, Quinn had hoped on the newly created group chat that had her girlfriend as well as her two best friends to decide on what they wanted to do to ring in the new year. The group had always spent the holiday together, even while Rachel was with Jesse. Rachel had quickly vetoed going to any of the clubs or spending the night in Times Square. The group argued about where to hang out for a while before Quinn offered up her place. 

_ Santana: You haven’t fully moved into Berry’s place yet? It seems like you are always there.  _

Quinn looked at her phone for a moment. Santana was right, other than to change her clothes and shower, she spent the majority of her time at Rachel’s place. In fact, she was at her apartment at that very moment to do that exact thing. 

_ Quinn: What can I say? It has the best view ;) _

_ Santana: Q if that is your version of flirting I have no idea how you get laid. Rachel, I really think you can do better than this.  _

_ Rachel: I will have you know Santana that Quinn is fantastic at flirting and I am lucky to have her.  _

_ Quinn: I’m lucky to have you too Rach!  _

_ Rachel: When are you going to be back at my place? I’m cold and I miss my human space heater.  _

_ Quinn: I’ll be there in a few babe.  _

_ Rachel: Can’t wait ;)  _

_ Santana: What have I done to deserve to subject my eyes to reading that disgusting conversation.  _

_ Quinn: That’s nothing compared to the shit you would put us through in high school. Hell, you still do this kind of shit now and you’ve been married for five years.  _

Quinn put her phone down and started to pack a small bag to take to Rachel’s. She quickly headed out the door and walked to the curb to catch a cab. Once she was in the vehicle she pulled out her phone, expecting to see a minimum of three texts from Santana. But to her surprise, she had no messages. 

_ Quinn: What’s up S? Does the truth hurt?  _

_ Brittany: I took her phone away. As much as she doesn’t want to admit it she is happy for the two of you. We will see you in a few days!  _

Quinn let out a small laugh, leave it to Brittany to mom up her own wife when she got into one of her moods where she just wanted to harass everyone. She locked her phone and rested her head against the back of her seat in the cab. The blonde got lost in her thoughts, thoughts about her book, thoughts about Rachel, thoughts about the future. 

She knew she wanted to be with Rachel as long as she would have her, (which Quinn was hoping was forever) but she didn’t know how to voice her feelings to the brunette. They had been together for a few months but they still hadn’t gone public with their relationship. Sure their family and close friends knew but the public didn’t know. Quinn was letting Rachel take the lead on that one, she would be perfectly content if the media never found out about her personal life but she knew that would never be the case. 

But it wasn’t like Rachel was completely hiding Quinn’s presence, the actress had posted a few somewhat subtle photos of the pair on her Instagram. Quinn’s favorite had to be the one where she is laying on Rachel’s chest but you can’t tell it is her, it's just a mop of blonde hair on Rachel’s chest. The brunette was smiling at the camera and Quinn knew she was smiling in the shot too, even if you couldn’t see her face. 

That photo had caused a small stir in the media. People started trying to guess who the mysterious blonde was who was cuddled up with the Tony Award winner. Quinn remembered seeing people thinking she was Lilli Reinhart or a bunch of celebs she had never heard of. 

Even though Rachel had warned against it Quinn also scrolled through the comment section of the post. While there were a few more guesses, along with a small handful of comments hoping Rachel would get back together with Jesse, a few people thought it was Quinn in the picture. Rachel had posted plenty of photos of her friends from high school before and Quinn felt a little bit of pride knowing that even before they were together she was important enough to Rachel for her fans to know her. 

Quinn was so lost in her own thoughts she didn’t notice as the cab pulled up to the familiar building. When she came to, she paid the cab driver and hoped out. After waving to the doorman she quickly made her way up to her girlfriend's place. 

She let herself in, making sure to lock the door once it was closed. She put her coat on the hook next to Rachel’s and her keys in the bowl on the entryway table. 

“Rach, baby where are you?” 

“Living room.”

Quinn walked to the living room and was met with her girlfriend who was sitting on the couch watching some mindless reality show Quinn only watched when she was with her. She placed a quick kiss on the crown of Rachel’s head as she walked around the couch. 

“You know that stuff will rot your brain,” Quinn said, sitting down next to her girlfriend. 

“It isn’t that bad,” Rachel started. “Sometimes you have to watch mind-numbing stuff to distract you from the rest of your life.” 

Rachel’s statement took Quinn by surprise. When she talked to her earlier she had said she was just going to relax all day and Quinn had promised to make the pair dinner. 

“Is something wrong Rach?” Quinn said. Quinn turned her body on the sofa so she could look her girlfriend in the eyes. The brunette kept avoiding the blonde's eyes, one of the many signs Quinn knew meant Rachel was nervous about something. “Rachel, look at me.” 

It took a moment before the brown eyes Quinn loved so much looked at her. 

“Santana’s text got me thinking,” the brunette said. Quinn then noticed Rachel was biting her lip— the second thing she did when she was in one of these moods. 

“Am I really that bad at flirting? I swear to God I’m going to throttle—” 

“We should move in together,” Rachel said, cutting Quinn off. 

“Oh”

“You don’t have to move in tomorrow. But I think it’s the next logical step,” the brunette started quickly. “I’m not going to force you to move in here. We can move into your place or we can get a place of our own.”

Quinn thought for a moment. She never really loved her place, she had gotten the first place she could find when she got into Columbia. The rent was cheap for Brooklyn but she never felt like it was home. But Rachel’s place had always felt that way, even before they started dating. If she was going to move it was going to be into the apartment she mostly was living in now with her girlfriend. 

“I was serious when I said I enjoyed the view here. You can see most of Brooklyn and overall it’s a much better place than the one than I have.” 

“I don’t know if I should be upset or disappointed because I thought I was the view,” Rachel said sitting on Quinn’s lap. The brunette wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck while one of Quinn’s hands found its way to the small of Rachel's back while the other rested on the actress’s thigh. 

“Baby you are the best view I could ask for,” Quinn said as her lips reached her girlfriends. “But I would love to move in with you because I love you, Rachel Berry.” 

“I love you too Quinn Fabray. But I would love you a little bit more if you were making that pasta you promised me.” 

* * *

Brittany and Santana arrived at Quinn's house around 8 on New Year's Eve. While Quinn had said they would just order some food to eat, Brittany felt a little bit of guilt and made Santana go to the store with her so they could get something to take to the apartment with them. 

Quinn was helping Rachel with some last-minute things when she heard a knock on her front door. As she approached she heard her friends bickering on the other side. 

“Britt we have a key, why didn’t you just use it? 

“It’s for emergencies Santana.” 

“Well this is an emergency, I am hungry and I want to try that bottle of wine Quinn was bragging about the other day.” 

Quinn waited by the door to see where the conversion was headed before she opened it. 

“Speaking of Tubbers, what is taking her so long?” Santana said. “I swear if we walk in and she’s all over Berry I’m g—” 

The blonde chose then to open her door. 

“It’s about time Q,” Santana said, walking into the apartment without thinking twice. “I was about to bust down this door and pull you off your girlfriend.” 

“Hello to you too Santana,” Quinn said. The Latina shrugged back at her friend. 

Brittany and Quinn exchanged hellos as the dancer gave her friend the bottle of champagne and chips they had brought with them. 

The trio met Rachel in the kitchen who was opening a bottle of wine for the group. They all grabbed a plate and filled it with food they had ordered and then headed to the living room. 

Brittany and Santana took the love seat while Rachel and Quinn sat on the sofa. They ate and put on a movie for some background noise. Rachel asked Brittany if she knew the person who was going to choreograph her workshop and Quinn asked Santana a few questions on how hard it would be for her to get a copyright for the book she was working on and if the Latina would mind giving her some recs for lawyers who could help her. Santana quickly shot that down and said she would be more than happy to represent her and they would set a meeting up in the new year. 

After the food was eaten and the movie was over it was time to put on the TV special to ring in the new year. They watched a few performances, Rachel critiquing the vocals and Santana talking about how Brittany could have come up with a better routine. 

When there was a little bit under 30 seconds left in the year each couple got quiet and wanted to share their first moments of the new year with their partner. 

“Here’s to the best year of our lives,” Santana said as the clock got closer to zero. She pulled her wife closer to her.

“Everything is going to change next year,” Brittany said. “But there is no one else I would want to take this journey with. It’s you. It’s always been you, Santana.” 

“It’s always been you to Britt. I’m scared shitless about the next year but you’ve always been my rock. It’s always been the two of us against the world and us trying to have a baby isn’t going to change that. We are going to keep trying until we have a mini-you in our lives.” 

“This year was pretty decent all things considered,” Rachel said with her arms around Quinn's neck. “But you know what the best part was?” 

“What?” 

“Being able to kiss you and call you my girlfriend.” 

“That has to be my favorite part too,” Quinn said. “But I’m more excited about next year because it means a full year of being your girlfriend.” 

“It does,” Rachel said with a small blush. “I love you so much, baby.” 

“I love you too babe. I can’t wait to make more memories with you.”

As the clock struck zero the two couples were in their own little worlds with each other. Sharing a kiss as the new year began. 

* * *

It was the first Friday of the new year and the last weekday that the Lopez-Pierces had off before they had to go back to work. The pair was in the kitchen of their apartment. Brittany had just finished her workout and was making a light breakfast while Santana sat with her at the bar on her phone. 

“So you know how I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo?” Santana asked looking up from her phone. Brittany nodded as she bit down on the piece of toast she was eating. “Well I booked an appointment yesterday and I wanted to see if you wanted to come with me.” 

“I would love to come with you, sweetie. I know needles aren’t your thing and what kind of wife would I be if I made you suffer all by yourself.” 

“If you were married to anyone else I would say a pretty shitty one but you could never be shitty in my eyes.” 

“Such a sweet talker,” Brittany said as she reached for her coffee mug. “What are you planning on getting?” 

“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Santana started. “I want to get something for you.” 

Brittany nearly choked on her coffee hearing her wife's confession. “You—you want to get something for me?” 

“Only if you are okay with it,” Santana said, grabbing Brittany’s hand over the counter. “If not I totally get it. I have plenty of other ideas I can go with.” 

“No no I like it, I love the idea actually,” Brittany said. “But you still haven’t told me what the tattoo is of.” 

“Oh right yeah. I want to get a music note. Music has always been a big part of our lives with Cheerios and everything but it really helped us get all our feelings for each other out. And I just think it would be really special.” 

“Oh sweetheart,” Brittany said coming around the counter. She stood in between the brunette's legs and draped her arms around Santana’s neck. “I’m so honored you would want to get something for me but hearing it out loud and what you want to get for me, for us, is so touching.” 

“So you like it?” 

“Like it? Baby, I love it so much,” Brittany said, placing a kiss on her wife's lips. “Does the parlor take walk-ins?” 

“I don't know why?” 

“Because I want to get one with you.” 

“Britt, babe you don’t have to.”

“Santana I want to. As much as the music helped you come to terms with who you are it helped me too. Plus you are getting it for me, the least I can do is get one for you too.” 

“You really don’t have to Britt-Britt,” Santana said, pulling Brittany closer to her. “But if this is something you are wanting to do for me I won’t stop you.” 

“Good because my beautiful wife is getting a tattoo for me so I’m going to get one for her. What time is this appointment at?” 

“Two o'clock I think,” Santana said, grabbing her phone to check. “Yeah, two. But the email says we should get there a little bit early. Why? Is there something you want to do before?” 

“Yeah, there actually is,” Brittany said. “I want to take a shower with my hot and very considerate wife before we go get matching tattoos.” 

All Santana could do was nod in response. There was something that was so hot when Brittany took control and told her what she wanted. Brittany took Santana’s hand in hers and led the pair to the master bathroom. 

A few hours later the pair were seated at an upscale parlor a few blocks away from their apartment. They were able to convince the artist so that they both could get the tattoo today and not have to come back weeks later so Brittany could get hers. 

While Brittany was cool calm and collected about the whole ordeal, Santana was on the verge of a mild freak out. There was no way she was going to back out of it now but she was still scared. 

When the artist asked who was going first both girls said they would be going first and then asked the artist to give them a second to decide. 

“Tana, I can go first,” Brittany said, resting her hand on Santana’s knee that hadn’t stopped bouncing up and down since they got to the parlor. “I can tell you are anxious and it might make you feel better if I go first.” 

“No this was my idea so I’m going first,” Santana said back. “I’ll be fine once we get started.” 

“Okay if you say so,” Brittany said, moving her hand so her wife could get up. She watched as Santana slowly approached the chair and put her arm on the table so the artist could easily put the music note on her wrist. 

Brittany watched intently as the tattoo gun got closer to her wife. Right as it was about to come in contact Santana turned her head and her eyes met Brittany’s. The blonde could tell Santana was trying to be strong about the whole thing but deep down she was freaking out. The dancer quickly stood up and pulled a spare chair up to the one her wife was in. She grabbed her wife’s other hand to show her that she was there. 

“How are you doing so far champ?” she asked a few minutes later. 

“It’s not bad if I don’t think about it. Or if I don’t look at the needle.” 

“Well then let’s make sure you are distracted while this happens.” 

The pair fell into a comfortable conversation and if it wasn’t for the constant poking feeling on her wrist, Santana would have thought she was just talking to her wife at their apartment.

“All done,” the artist said about 15 minutes later. 

Santana quickly turned her attention to the marking on her wrist. Even though her skin was red and hurt like a bitch, the note was perfect and she was even more excited for Brittany to get hers. A wrap was quickly placed on the fresh ink and then the women switched places. 

While they both got music notes they were slightly different. Santana had decided on getting a sixteenth note— she was 16 when she realized she loved Brittany so she thought it was fitting. Brittany had decided on an eighth note, not only was it similar to the one Santana was getting but even through all the breakups and everything they had been together for eight years.

“Damn B you are a pro at this,” Santana said as Brittany didn’t react to the needle making repeated contact with her skin. 

“It’s really not that bad San, you are just kinda a baby when it comes to pain.” 

“I am not!” the Latina shot back. 

“You are but I’m not going to argue with you about this right now.” 

Santana went to respond back when the artist announced that Brittany’s was done too. After the wrap was on, post-care was explained and the bill was paid the girls were on their way back to their apartment. 

“I want a picture of these,” Brittany said when they made it back home. 

“Britt he said they might fade or get darker so why don’t we wait.” 

“We could but I kinda promised Quinn I would send her a picture of them.” 

“Fine we can take one,” Santana said as she put her wrist out next to her wife's. Brittany quickly snapped a few options to send their friend. “You know what would be funny? If we sent it to our moms on purpose but claimed it was an accident. I bet my mom would lose it.” 

“We totally can do that babe,” Brittany said with a devilish glint in her eyes. “I think it would be fun to tease them.” 

“God I love you,” Santana said, kissing Brittany. “Send one of them to me and I’ll send it to my mom and you send one to your mom and we can just play it off like we were meaning to send it to someone else.” 

The pair sent their respective messages and then put their phones down. Santana was about to start making dinner when she saw the screen of her phone light up. She knew it was probably her mom calling to berate her for getting a tattoo so she ignored it. Not even a minute later it was vibrating again and she ignored it again. Ten minutes later she had 12 missed calls from her mom and a few texts hoping that they were temporary tattoos and not real. 

“San you should really call her back, she is probably stressing your dad out so much.” 

“I will eventually,” Santana said, stirring the pot on the stove. “I’m having fun messing with her right now.” 

Brittany was about to respond when her phone lit up with her mother-in-law's name. 

“Don’t answer it, Britt, let’s keep this going.” 

“Santana if you don’t call your mom back right now I will answer the next time she calls me and I will make you deal with her.” 

“Fine I’ll call her back,” Santana said, grabbing her phone and dialing her mom’s number. “Hi, Mami—” 

Brittany smiled and kissed her wife's temple as she left her wife to be yelled at by her own mother over the phone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aren't Britt and Santana the cutest! We are going to take a time jump in the next chapter so be ready for that! 
> 
> As always be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates and also if y'all just want to talk about the fic or glee in general!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are making a quick time jump with this chapter! Light angst but a lot of fluff ahead! 
> 
> Enjoy!

There was something about the first two months of the year that made it fly by. One minute they were in January and the next thing Santana knew she was trying to help a frazzled Quinn who wanted to make her first Valentine’s Day with Rachel special. She suggested getting the actress a nice bracelet and Quinn to take her out to dinner at Rachel’s favorite vegan place, (a suggestion Quinn took to heart and ended up making Rachel very happy). 

Brittany always made Valentine’s day great for her wife. The Latina had stopped at her wife’s favorite bakery on her way home and grabbed half a dozen of the cookies that Brittany loved. The blonde had dinner and a dozen red roses waiting for Santana when she got home and the two spent the night just enjoying each other’s presence. 

As much as she loved Valentine's Day, Santana had bigger fish to fry by the time March came around. Brittany’s birthday was on the 14th and Santana always tried to make the day as special as possible. 

Some years she went all out, like the year she got Brittany and her tickets to a concert that the blonde had thought were all sold out. One of Santana’s associates at the firm represented the artist and was able to get the pair some tickets. But what Santana hadn’t told Brittany when she gave her the tickets was that they were also going to meet the artist backstage after the show was over. To say Brittany was excited would have been an understatement, and she made her excitement very clear to Santana when they got home from the concert. 

But this year was different, Santana didn’t want to do something super extravagant. She had thought about taking her wife out to dinner but they did that all the time. She went through what she felt like was a million ideas before deciding on throwing a surprise party with some of their friends. 

Santana had it all planned out. Brittany had to work on her birthday so Santana didn’t have to worry about making sure her wife was out of the house. Santana got Mercedes to come by the apartment and decorate while she was at work and Rachel was able to pick up the cake for the party after she left the theater from rehearsal. Kurt had said he could keep Brittany distracted at the studio while everything was being finished at their house. Quinn was mainly on Santana watch, making sure the Latina didn’t totally lose it while trying to make sure everything went perfectly. 

And everything was going perfect until about an hour before the Latina was supposed to head home. Santana was trying to focus on the case she was working on when her phone lit up with a picture of her and Quinn. 

“Q, if this is another call to check on me and see if I’m not stressing over this I will go Lima Heights on you,” Santana said into the phone. 

“No, actually I need to talk to you about something.” 

“Okay well make it fast Q, has Berry left the theater yet? I got a call that the cake was ready a little bit ago.” 

“Yeah that’s actually why I’m calling you,” Quinn said. “So we went out to lunch today and I walked her back to the theater and as I was leaving I gave her a kiss and— ”

“Quinn I hate to cut you off but does this story have a point?” 

“Yes,” the blonde said with slight irritation in her voice. “So we didn’t notice but there was some paparazzi across the street and they got some photos of us. Rachel is currently at her agent's office because the photos made it on to Twitter and her kissing me is causing a media storm.” 

“And you are telling me this because?” 

“Because Rachel wasn’t out publicly. She had this whole plan about how she wanted to do this but it's been thrown out the window. She and her agent are trying to figure out a way to deal with this. And even though your situation was different maybe you could talk to her tonight? I would but I don’t know what she is feeling right now.” 

Santana thought for a moment. Quinn was right. Even though it wasn’t the same situation, she was the only one who knew what Rachel was going through in some way. When she was outed, only the people who saw the ad knew about her but now anyone who had a phone knew about Rachel. The magnitude might have been different but the issue was still the same, they both had one of the most personal things in their life taken from them. 

“Yeah I can talk to the Hobbit,” Santana said. “I’m sorry it had to happen this way for the two of you Q, I know how much it sucks.” 

“Thanks, S. Personally I’m fine, but I’m worried about Rachel. As much as she tries not to show it what people say about her behind her back still terrifies her. I think you talking to her might make her feel better.” 

“I get it. I’ll talk to her for sure,” Santana said. “Does she know when she will be out of her meeting with her agent or do I need to leave work early to pick up the cake?” 

“I’m actually on my way there to pick it up right now,” Quinn said. “I told you I would help you pull off this party for B and I intend to keep my promise.” 

“You better. It would be a shitty birthday party without a cake,” Santana said with a laugh. The pair finished talking about some final plans for the party and then hung up. 

By the time it was four, Santana was out the door and headed home. Brittany was supposed to leave the studio at 4:30 but Kurt said he could stall her for at least 30 minutes if he brought Tracy with him. 

When Santana got home she quickly let herself in and looked around the house. The entryway looked the same as it always did but once she rounded the corner to the living room and kitchen it totally looked like a birthday party. Gold and white balloons were all over the place and there was a small banner that said: “Happy birthday” hung across one of the walls. 

“Wheezy you really outdid yourself with this one,” Santana said as she looked around. 

“Well you told me exactly what you wanted, I just put it up,” Mercedes said, pulling Santana into a quick hug. 

“Yeah, I’m surprised you got it all done so fast. I was expecting I would have to help you with it when I got home.” 

“Well she had some help,” a male voice said coming from the kitchen. 

“Blaine, what are you doing here? When I talked to Kurt a few days ago he said you were out of town for work,” Santana said hugging him. 

“I got home a few days early and thought I would help since I didn’t have anything else to do because my husband took our daughter to distract your wife. You two need to have one of your own so you can stop stealing mine.” 

Mercedes shot Santana a knowing glance as the pair pulled apart. Santana just let out a small laugh as she heard the door to the apartment open. 

“Did someone order a cake?” Quinn's voice rang out. She walked into the rest of the apartment and quickly put the cake on the small dining room table that was covered in some other snacks. “Damn it looks good in here.” 

“It does,” Santana said. “Thank you guys for all the help with this. I really hope Brittany likes it. I’ve kinda been dodging her questions about what we were going to do today so I hope she likes it.” 

“She would have loved anything you did,” Mercedes said. “But you should probably go get ready and we will finish up in here.” 

Santana nodded and ran off to her bedroom to get changed for the party. When she reemerged 30 minutes later Rachel was there as well as Chelsea. Santana could tell the brunette actress wasn’t totally there by the way she was zoned out sitting next to Quinn on the couch.

“I just got a text from Kurt, they should be here in the next 30 minutes unless you need them to stall more Santana,” Blaine said. 

“He’s stalled her long enough. Even though that baby of yours is hella cute I know Britt probably wants to come home.” 

Blaine nodded as he typed out a response on his phone. 

“Hey, Rach can I talk to you for a sec?” Santana said motioning to the balcony. She felt a little relief when the actress nodded in response. 

Once the pair was outside they didn't speak for a while. 

“Quinn told me what happened today and I’m sorry Rachel. I know how much it sucks to have something like this taken away from you and even though these aren’t the same situation I just want you to know I’m here for you. Hell everyone in that apartment is here for you.” 

“It just sucks,” Rachel said with tears in her eyes. “I knew that I would have to do this eventually but to have it taken away from me makes it so much harder to deal with.” 

“You know you have it easier than I did. Lemme finish before you jump in,” Santana said when Rachel opened her mouth to respond. “You have two parents who already know and still love you. You have Quinn— and that girl is so in love with you it makes me and Britt look like nothing. You have Blaine and Kurt and Mercedes and Britt. And you have me. When Finn outed me, I didn’t know if I would have any support. Yes I had Britt but I didn't know about my family or the rest of the glee club. And as stupid as that ladies' music week was, it really helped. It showed me that I wasn’t as alone as I thought I was. You were there for me and now it’s my turn to be there for you.” 

“Thank you, Santana. That means more than you know to me,” Rachel said. “I’m so glad Brittany made us talk all of our issues out all those years ago.” 

“I am too,” Santana said, pulling the girl into a hug. “She really is a genius.” 

They just stood on the balcony hugging for a while until they heard the sliding door open. 

“Hey I hate to interrupt but Kurt said they will be here in five or so minutes so you might want to come in and get ready,” Quinn said. 

Santana nodded and headed back into the apartment to send Brittany a text saying she was running late from the office to make the surprise even better. 

When she was gone Quinn pulled her girlfriend into a hug. She kissed the top of her head. 

“How was your talk with S?” 

“Good. She’s a great friend,” Rachel said snuggling into Quinn. “Do you know how much I love you, Quinn Fabray?”

“Well, I hope it’s as much as I love you.” 

“It’s more,” Rachel said. “As shitty as this situation was, I’m glad that I have you. You are my rock and we are going to ride this storm out together.” 

Quinn smiled back at Rachel and kissed her. 

“We should probably head inside, Britt, Kurt, and Tracy should be here any minute.” 

The pair slipped back inside and quickly found a hiding spot. All the lights were off in the apartment and Santana had made sure the door was locked so Brittany thought she wasn’t home. 

A few seconds later the sound of a key entering the lock filled the apartment, followed by the door opening. 

“Kurt you didn’t have to walk me home. I do it all the time already.” 

Everyone in the living room and kitchen heard the voices as they got closer and prepared to surprise the birthday girl. 

“Oh, it was no big deal. Plus you promised Tracy she could meet Stevie a few months ago so—” 

“SURPRISE!” the group said as they jumped out from behind couches and tables in the apartment. 

Brittany had dropped her dance bag at the sudden noise and looked like she had just seen a ghost. Santana was the first to make contact with the birthday girl, jogging from her spot behind the coffee table to pull her wife into a hug. 

“Santana, you did all this for me?” Brittany said resting her chin on Santana’s head. Taking in the decorations and all of their friends in one place. 

“Well I didn’t do it alone but I wanted to do something special for you for your birthday babe,” the Latina responded. 

“I thought you had forgotten it with the way you were acting.” 

“I would never forget you, baby,” Santana said with a kiss. 

“But what about the text you sent me about staying in the office late?” 

“I wanted to be able to surprise my beautiful wife on her birthday.” 

“Well thank you,” Brittany said, kissing her wife again. 

Brittany quickly said hi to everyone before excusing herself to the bedroom to change out of her dance clothes. Santana followed her wife into the room a few moments later. She had left not only her present to Brittany but the ones that their parents had sent her on the bed for Brittany to see. 

“Santana this is too much,” Brittany said as she slipped into a pair of jeans. 

“You deserve it though. You deserve more actually. Quinn had to talk me out of so much stuff for this so you should thank her. Do you want to open these now or later?” Santana said motioning to the presents. 

“Later,” Brittany said, pulling a sweater on. “I want to spend some time with our amazing friends who helped you pull this together.” 

“Your wish is my command birthday girl,” Santana said, extending her hand and grabbing the blondes. 

The party was just the thing Brittany needed. She had all the people who mattered to her in the city all in one place and they were just hanging out. She was with Mercedes and Kurt listening as he told them about his plans for his summer line of clothes. Chelsea was talking to Blaine about something she couldn’t make out. But she was the most interested in her wife and what she was doing. She watched as Santana, Quinn, and Rachel played with Tracy and Stevie on the floor. The baby was in her wife's lap while Stevie sat in Rachel's. 

Brittany loved her wife but watching her with their friend's kid just made her fall deeper in love with her. Santana looked up at that moment and her eyes met Brittany’s. The Latina lifted the baby's arm to make it look like she was waving to Brittany. The blonde waved back and then excused herself from the group she was in. 

“Hey is it okay if I steal Tana for a second?” Britt said squatting in front of her friends. 

Quinn and Rachel nodded and Santana passed the infant to Quinn as Brittany helped her up and led her to the balcony. 

“Are you ready?” Brittany said when the door was closed and they were alone. 

“Ready for what B?” 

“Ready to have a baby. You said we would talk about it again in six months and the last time I checked September 14th was six months ago.” 

“It really has been six months hasn’t it?” Santana said. 

“Yeah, it has been. So are we going to start trying?” 

Santana didn’t respond right away, instead, she took both of Brittany’s hands in her own and looked at them. There was silence for what felt like ages. 

“Santana please say something, you are scaring me,” Brittany said. 

“Britt,” Santana started. “Brittany Susan Lopez-Pierce I would love to have a baby with you.” 

Santana hadn’t even gotten her full sentence out before Brittany was picking her up and spinning the pair around on the small balcony. Brittany put her wife down and placed a kiss on her lips. 

“This is the best birthday present ever,” Brittany said. 

“Oh, so I can return the new sneakers I bought you then?” 

“No, I want those too. I didn’t know what I would have done if you said you wanted to wait. Seeing you with Tracy just made me think about how you would be with our own baby.” 

“Well, she’s cool but not as cool as any kids we have.” 

“We’re really going to do this?” Brittany said resting her forehead against Santana’s. 

“Hell yeah, we are Britt-Britt. Tomorrow we take the first steps to starting our family." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are getting a Brittana baby!!!!! 
> 
> As always be sure to follow me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez for updates and also if y'all just want to talk about the fic or glee in general!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Quinn had forgotten how stressful moving was. When she moved from Lima to New Haven she wanted to forget her past so it was easy. She shoved all the clothes she could into her suitcase and grabbed some other things she would need and didn’t look back. 

When she moved into her first off-campus apartment it was a little bit harder but it was nothing compared to her move after graduating from Yale and moving to New York. The blonde had ended up selling all of her furniture and buying new stuff in New York to save some money. 

But that move was looking like a cakewalk compared to the one she was in the middle of. Her lease was up on the 17th, a few days after Brittany’s birthday and she had already decided that she was going to move in with Rachel. The brunette's apartment was closer to the theater district as well as the publishing house so, in the end, it worked out best for everyone. 

The move was also hard with the workshop of Rachel’s new show starting to ramp up rehearsals but they were able to schedule the move for one of Rachel’s few weekends off. 

Rachel had insisted that if Quinn moved into her apartment the blonde should at least bring some of her furniture to make the place more theirs. Quinn had tried to fight back, arguing that she didn’t need furniture to make a place feel like home but the brunette wasn’t having it. 

Quinn finally gave into Rachel and decided to bring the stuff from her small office in her place to her new home. When the movers had come to bring the furniture to the new apartment Quinn had them put it in the smaller of the two extra rooms. She knew Rachel wanted to make the guest room the other one so she didn’t have to think twice when telling the movers where to put stuff. 

When Rachel had also brought up using some of the money Quinn had gotten from selling her old furniture to buy a new bedroom set the blonde had jumped at the suggestion. They were starting a new life together, the last thing Quinn wanted to think about was Rachel laying in the same bed with her as she did with her now ex-husband. 

It didn’t take long to decide on a set. Quinn was about ninety percent sure that Rachel would have said yes to just about anything she suggested but that was neither here nor there. 

As hard as it was moving furniture into the place, moving all of her other stuff was what killed Quinn. Santana had teased her for years about how many books she owned but she didn’t believe it until she used about five boxes to pack up her collection. She knew there wasn’t going to be enough space in the apartment for all her books along with the small handful Rachel kept around to make the living room look better, so Quinn decided that once she was settled she would go through the collection and take some of the ones she could live without to her favorite second-hand shop. 

Rachel had insisted they throw a small ‘welcome to your new home’ party once the movers were finished and even though the apartment looked like a mess, Quinn was fine with it, knowing that Rachel would put their friends to work when they came over that evening. 

And put them to work she did. 

“If I would have known you were going to use us for free labor I would have come up with a better excuse to not come,” Santana said as she unpacked a box filled with Quinn’s expensive pans she used to cook with. 

“Like you didn’t use me for free labor when you and Britt moved into the place you are in now. We are at least feeding you. All you gave us for our help was a high five,” Quinn shot back. 

“Well it better be good food or I’m never helping you again. And it better not be any of that vegan shit Berry eats.” 

“You know it's not that bad if you don’t think about it being vegan,” Quinn said back. “It’s actually growing on me.” 

Santana laughed as she made a fake whip sound and motioned as if she was cracking it. Quinn balled up the newspaper that was wrapping one of her coffee mugs and threw it at her friend. Santana quickly dodged it and then picked it up and threw it back at Quinn. 

“You two act like 7-year-olds,” Brittany said, continuing to unwrap things from the few boxes that were left in the kitchen. 

“We do not!” Santana shot back at her wife. “Plus Quinn started it!” 

“I didn’t!” Quinn shot back. “Brittany, how do you deal with her?” 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Brittany said. “You’ve known her for a year more than me.” 

“Whatever,” Santana said. “You both love me and would never get rid of me.” 

“You keep telling yourself that,” Quinn said with a laugh. 

Before another fight could break out Brittany quickly changed the subject. “So Quinn how does it feel to be out of that shoebox you’ve been in for the last few years?”

“Fantastic,” she said with a smile. 

“You know Q I don’t think I’ve seen you this happy in ages. Berry must really be treating you right,” Santana said. 

“I’ve been in a lot of relationships but this one feels different,” Quinn started. “There’s no jealousy, there's no drama and it feels like an adult relationship. Plus it helps that she’s been the girl I’ve been dreaming of since high school.” 

“I know exactly how you feel,” Brittany said looking at Santana. 

“So does that mean we will be hearing wedding bells soon?” Santana said. The question shocked Quinn so much she started to choke on the water she was drinking. 

“Not sure right now,” Quinn said after she stopped coughing. “Rach just got out of a real shitty marriage and I don’t want to push her if she isn’t ready.” 

Santana nodded at the response. 

“You never know Quinn,” Brittany started. “Maybe she is just waiting for you to bring it up.” 

“Britt is right Q, test the water, see where she is at. What would you do if she said she doesn’t want to get married again?” 

“I don’t know,” Quinn said. “Of course I’d be upset but I wouldn’t leave her, she’s my everything. Plus marriage doesn’t make a relationship. Love does. And I love Rachel whether she wants to marry me or not. And if she doesn’t want to get married but still wants to be with me I’ll be happy. We don’t need a piece of paper to tell us how we know we feel for each other.” 

Meanwhile, Rachel was in the living room with Kurt unpacking the few knick-knacks and random things Quinn owned.

“This is a big step for the two of you,” Kurt said, grabbing a photo frame from the box. 

“It is but we are ready for it,” Rachel said as she put a bookend on the shelf. She turned to look at her friend. “It might have happened quicker than some people would have thought but this is the next step for us.” 

“Well as long as you are happy, I’m happy.” 

“I haven’t been this happy in a long time, Kurt. I love her so much.” The brunette could feel her cheeks heating up from the conversation. 

“So how long until I’m designing another wedding dress for you?” Kurt said. He quickly dodged a pillow that the actress had thrown at him. “What? I’m just asking what everyone is thinking.” 

“It might be a while considering we haven’t even talked about marriage.” 

“You, Rachel Barbara Berry haven’t talked about marriage with your girlfriend who plans stuff just as much as you? I’m speechless.” 

“It’s not that we haven’t talked about it, it's just we have been enjoying where we are at right now that we don’t want to rush anything,” Rachel looked down at the little statue of the Empire State building that Quinn had bought on one of her first times coming to visit while they were in college. “Plus I don’t have the best track record when it comes to marriage anyway. Who knows, I could scare Quinn away if I brought it up.” 

Kurt watched as the brunette played with the statue. Even though Rachel had told him numerous times that her pregnancy wasn’t the reason her marriage failed, Kurt still felt like it was his fault to a certain extent. He inched closer to Rachel.

“Rachel, look at me,” Kurt said, taking Rachel’s hands in his. The actress looked up and into the eyes of one of her best friends. “Jesse wasn’t the one okay? I see the way you look at Quinn and it's different than any look you have ever had for someone you were with. And I see how she looks at you. That girl loves you so much.” 

Kurt took in his friend, her eyes had started to gloss over with unshed tears. “I don’t think you would scare Quinn away if you brought it up. Who knows she could be too scared to bring it up to you. If this is something you want you need to talk to her about it. Okay?” 

Rachel nodded as she wiped the few tears that had fallen from her face. Deep down she knew she was just overthinking it all but there was a little voice in her head that was telling her that Quinn would run. Kurt pulled his friend into a hug in the middle of the living room. The pair stayed connected for a while, just holding each other. 

“Is everything okay in here?” Quinn said taking in her girlfriend embracing her friend with red eyes. Santana and Brittany were close behind their friend. Rachel quickly separated herself from Kurt after hearing Quinn's voice. She tried to pull herself together. 

“Everything is wonderful Quinn,” Kurt said with a smile.

“Hey is that the statue I got when I visited you while we were in school?” Quinn said, deciding to not force Rachel to talk if she didn’t feel like it. Rachel nodded as she looked at it. The blonde approached her girlfriend and wrapped her arm around her waist and pulled her close. Rachel’s head found its spot on Quinn’s shoulder quickly. “I still remember the day I bought this, you told me I was crazy for getting it.” 

“I still think you are crazy for buying it,” Rachel said. 

“Well, I bought it because I needed something to remind me of the city where my best friend lived,” Quinn said. 

“I’m honored you would do that for me,” Santana said before quickly getting an elbow to the ribs from her wife. “Ow! What the hell Britt?”

Brittany shot her wife a look that told her to shut up. Santana let a huff out as she rolled her eyes. 

“As I was saying, I bought this so even if I wasn’t able to come to New York I could look at this and know you were close to me. But since I now live not far from the real one and I’m living with you, I don’t need this anymore,” Quinn said, reaching to take the statue from Rachel. 

“No,” Rachel said, tightening her grip on the small chunk of metal. She had never heard the reasoning behind the purchase before but now that she knew it she didn’t want to let it go. “We are going to keep it. This means a lot to you so it stays.” 

One of the smiles that were reserved from Rachel quickly crossed the blonde's face. Deep down she was hoping Rachel would be open to keeping the little building that meant so much to her. 

“C’mere,” Rachel said, taking Quinn's hand and leading her to the pair's bedroom. The brunette shut the door as Quinn took a seat on the bed. The next thing the blonde knew she was being straddled by her girlfriend. 

Quinn's hands were on Rachel's back as the brunette wrapped her arms around her neck with the statue still in her hand. The actress leaned in and kissed her girlfriend, wanting to show her how she felt knowing words wouldn’t cut it right now. 

“Mmm as much as I enjoy this, our friends are outside right now,” Quinn said, pulling apart a few minutes later. 

“They can wait,” Rachel said, kissing Quinn’s neck. “Right now I want to show my very thoughtful and considerate girlfriend how much I love her.” 

Quinn's head rolled to the side, enjoying the sensation. She let it continue for a few more seconds before pulling away. The blonde heard a small grown come from the tiny brunette still seated on her lap.

“Britt and Kurt could wait but we both know Santana has the patience of a two-year-old,” Quinn said. “I promise we can finish this once we send them home.” 

“Fine,” Rachel said with a huff as she got off Quinn’s lap. “But we are ordering a pizza from that place down the street and we aren’t telling Santana it's vegan.” 

“Whatever you say, baby,” Quinn said with a small laugh. “Are you just going to hold that all night,” she said motioning to the statue that was still in Rachel’s grasp. 

“No, I’m actually going to put it in its new home,” Rachel said walking towards one of the floating shelves on the wall. She placed the statue next to a picture frame that held a selfie the pair took on their first date before it was cut short because of the rain. She placed the tiny statue next to the frame and then turned to Quinn. “There we go, now our bedroom is officially finished. I knew that shelf was missing something, but now it's perfect.” 

Quinn got off the bed and pulled Rachel close to her. “I love you so much, Rachel.” 

“I love you too Quinn,” she said as she got on her tiptoes for a kiss. “But we have some friends we need to kick out so we can get back to what we were doing a few minutes ago,” she said after they broke the kiss. 

“Yep let's do that,” Quinn said, obviously still worked up from the series of events. She led Rachel out of the bedroom and headed towards the living room and was met with silence. No one was in there. She released Rachel's hand and then headed to the kitchen where there was a note on the counter. She picked it up and headed back to the living room. “They are gone but they left this note.” 

The pair sat on the couch as they looked at the paper, they easily identified the writing as Kurts. Rachel made a mental note to text him later and thank him for not only his kind words earlier but also knowing when it was time to leave. 

_ We decided to leave you two lovebirds alone so you can enjoy your first night together in your apartment! Hope you have a great night and we will talk to you later!  _

_ Love,  _

_ Kurt, Brittany, and Santana _

_ P.S- Santana says you still owe her dinner for all the ‘manual labor’ you made her do today.  _

“Of course Santana would be more worried about the food,” Quinn said laughing at the piece of paper. She placed the paper on the end table and pulled Rachel closer. They sat together for a few minutes just enjoying their first moments in their apartment together. 

“Okay enough of that,” Rachel said, getting off the couch and standing in front of Quinn. The blonde looked back at her girlfriend with a look of confusion. “You said when we were alone we would finish what I was starting a few minutes ago. And if you read that note correctly we are alone so let's go.” 

“Well isn’t someone needy tonight,” Quinn said standing up from the couch. 

“The only thing I need right now is you,” Rachel said, taking Quinn’s hand and leading her back to the bedroom.

* * *

“I told you Quinn was just going to use us for free labor,” Santana said as she unlocked the door to the apartment she shared with her wife.

“San you know that’s not the truth,” Brittany said, taking off her coat and putting it on the hook by the door. 

“Well, it feels like it because now we have to make something instead of eating something she paid for.” 

“I’m sure she will make it up to you,” Brittany said as she headed towards the kitchen. 

“She better or it's over,” Santana said following her wife. Brittany was already grabbing stuff out of the fridge to make the pair dinner. 

Santana came up behind her wife, wrapping her arms around her waist and resting her chin on the blonde's shoulder. “What are we making tonight baby?” 

“Stir fry,” Brittany said, closing the fridge. She turned around in Santana’s arms and placed a quick kiss on her lips. 

“Love it,” Santana said letting Brittany go. The Latina headed towards the cabinet where they stored all their pans at. 

They fell into a comfortable silence as Brittany cut vegetables and Santana combined everything into the wok. Once everything was plated the pair headed to the living room to eat. 

“What were you working on before we left?” Santana said motioning to Brittany’s laptop that was still open on the table in front of the couch. 

“It was nothing. Do you want to watch a movie on the TV?” Brittany said, easily dismissing Santana’s question. 

“Sure, you can choose baby,” Santana said, shoving some of her food into her mouth. As Brittany got up and made her way over to the pair's growing selection of movies, Stevie jumped off the floor from where she was and directly onto Brittany’s open laptop. The device quickly woke up and as Santana went to close it she was greeted by the website of one Dr. Erica Wilson. Santana couldn’t resist looking at the page in front of her. The page was full of testimonials from patients who had been helped by the doctor. 

“San how do you feel about…” Brittany started as she turned around to see her wife looking at her computer. “What are you doing?” 

“Stevie jumped on the table and woke your computer up. I was going to close it but Britt were you looking at fertility doctors?”

Brittany slowly approached the couch feeling somewhat embarrassed that she had been caught. “Yeah, I was. I know we just agreed on starting to try for a baby a few days ago but I just wanted to be ready with some potential doctors whenever you brought it up again.”

The blonde lowered herself on the sofa not wanting to meet eyes with her wife. 

“Britt can you please hand me my iPad,” Santana said motioning to the side table that was closest to her wife. When she didn’t move Santana put her food on the table in front of them and turned to look at her wife. “Britt-Britt please?” 

Brittany slowly picked up the device and before she went to hand it to Santana she was stopped.

“Unlock it, baby,” Santana said with some softness in her voice. Brittany slowly put in the password, her birthday, and took in the page her wife was last on. “I guess we were having the same thoughts,” Santana said with a laugh. 

Brittany just looked at the tablet. The home page for the doctor that was open on her laptop was looking back at her on her wife's iPad. The blonde was speechless for a few minutes. There were tons of fertility doctors in the city and seeing that her wife was looking at the same one she was felt like a sign. 

“You haven’t been the only one doing their research,” Santana said. “I had just started reading about her last night but I have a feeling you can tell me all I need to know about Dr. Wilson.” 

Santana picked her bowl off the table and leaned back on the couch. “So baby what have you learned about Dr. Wilson?” 

Brittany just looked back at her wife. Santana had one of her knowing smiles on her face, one that told the blonde she knew that whatever she wanted Santana would make happen. A small smile crossed the blonde's face as she looked back down at the device in her hand. 

“Well, she is one of the best fertility doctors in Brooklyn. She has one of the highest success rates too,” Brittany said. 

“That’s great,” Santana said with a mouth full of food. Santana could tell her wife was excited about this doctor but was scared to show that she knew deep down this was the doctor for them. Santana knew her next question might upset the blonde but it had to be put out there. “Is she okay with helping married women start their family?” 

“Oh totally. I would never even think about a doctor who wasn’t okay with our relationship. Plus she specializes in reciprocal IVF if you are still open to me carrying your baby?” 

“Britt I just want a baby with you. I don’t care if the baby is biologically mine or not because at the end of the day they are our baby and we will be their mommies. We will love them no matter what. And if this is what you want we will make it happen.” 

“Since I’m carrying first—” 

“First? Who said anything about having more than one kid?” Santana said, cutting her wife off. She had a very serious look on her face. 

“I just thought that we were going to have more than one kid. You always complain about how much you hated being an only child and—” 

“Baby slow down I was just teasing you. I totally want to have more than one kid with you but we are taking it, one baby, at a time,” Santana said with a smile cutting off her wifes rambling. “If you really want to carry my baby how am I to say no to that? But last time I checked we can’t just make a baby with my egg.” 

“Oh I’ve been thinking about that too,” Brittany said, putting the iPad in her wife's lap and grabbing her own computer. 

“Of course you have because you are my genius.” 

Brittany clicked a few things on her laptop before she motioned to Santana to come closer to her. “I knew that if I was going to carry your baby, you were going to want the baby to at least have the possibility to look somewhat like me so I went on the website of the sperm bank that Dr. Wilson works directly with and I found this.” 

Santana looked at the page in front of her and took in all the information. The donor Brittany had picked out was as close to a male version of her wife as she could have imagined. Not only did he have blonde hair and blue eyes but he was also a classically trained ballerina who studied at Boston Conservatory. He was just an inch short of six feet and had no concerning medical history. 

“So what do you think?” Brittany said a few moments after Santana started reading the page. 

“I think you are the most perfect wife on the planet,” Santana said leaning in and kissing her wife. “If I didn’t know any better I would say he is your long lost twin, he sounds like the male version of you.” 

“I was hoping you would say that,” Brittany said, kissing her wife. 

“You really figured this whole thing out baby,” Santana said. “I think everything is perfect. Just like you.” 

“Are you sure you don’t want to look at any other doctors?” 

“We can keep looking at this website because I have a few questions but I think we found our doctor.”

Santana took a mental picture to remember the smile that crossed her wife's face as she finished her statement. 

“Really?” Brittany said back. 

“Really babe,” Santana said with a smile on her face. Brittany threw herself into her wife's lap, finally feeling like the whole situation was finally real. 

“I’m going to call Dr. Wilson's office right now and schedule us an appointment,” Brittany said, quickly grabbing her phone. 

“Britt slow down sweetie,” Santana said with a laugh. “It’s nearly nine at night. I doubt anyone is there right now.” 

“Oh I didn’t realize it was that late,” Brittany said with a small blush on her face.

“How about we call them together before work tomorrow? I know you have that important meeting with the venue for the summer recital and I have to be to the office early for some stupid meeting so how about we try and start our day on a good note with that phone call?” 

“Deal,” Brittany said. 

“But until then we are going to sit on this couch, you are going to finish your dinner because if you are going to be carrying our baby you need to be in the best shape possible while I put in this movie and we are going to cuddle and just spend some time together.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I want to thank you all for sticking with me! I know it's been a while since I last updated but with finals, the holidays, writers block and some personal stuff going on it got away from me. But I am happy to report that the block is gone so we should hopefully get back so some semi regular updates. I've already started on chapter 14 so hopefully that update should be coming out soon! 
> 
> But I also wanted to give another special shout out to Brittany aka @proudly-so on Tumblr for being the biggest support during this hard time. It means the world to me so this chapter was for her! 
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez if you ever want to talk about the fic or anything Glee related! 
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a long one but I hope y'all enjoy it!

_ March 17, 2021 _

Being a woman of her word Santana made sure that an appointment was made with Dr. Wilson the next morning. She held Brittany’s hand the whole time as her wife recited back all of the information that the receptionist on the other end needed. The Latina placed a few kisses on her wife’s knuckles as the pair sat on the bed. They were just making an appointment but Santana was still scared shitless. 

“That time works for us,” Brittany said into the phone. Santana had told her before the call that no matter what day and time she made the appointment for she would be there. It was for their family and family always comes first. “Thank you so much. We will see you then.” 

As Brittany removed the phone from her ear she gave Santana a small smile and pulled her closer.

“So what is going on?” Santana asked. 

“The soonest they can get us in is on the 22nd at 10 a.m.,” Brittany said with a sigh. Santana nodded, making a mental note to tell her boss that she wouldn’t be in all day. Even though she didn’t see anything going wrong she just wanted to be prepared in case. 

“Hey what's the matter, baby? It’s not like we have to wait months for the appointment, it’s in five days.” 

“I know that but five days is such a long time when it comes to something as big as this,” the blonde said. 

“I know it is Britt but we are going to do it just like everything we do, together,” Santana said, placing a kiss on Brittany’s lips. “So here’s what we are going to do. We are going to put it on the calendar on the fridge like anything big we have coming up and in five days we are going to go to the doctor's office and figure out how we can have a baby. Okay?” 

Brittany didn’t say anything but nodded in response to what Santana had said. Santana stood up from the bed and led the blonde to the little whiteboard calendar that was on the fridge in the kitchen. The brunette grabbed the pink marker that she knew Brittany loved and on the 22nd she wrote ‘Appt w/ Dr. Wilson’ and drew a little heart next to it. 

“Five days,” Santana said, putting the cap back on the marker and putting it back with the other ones they had. She took both of Brittany’s hands in hers and looked into the clear blue eyes she hoped their kids would have. “We are going to get through this together.” 

“Together,” Brittany said with a smile. 

* * *

_ March 22, 2021  _

They had gotten through the five days, work had been a welcome distraction for the pair and the weekend before their appointment Santana made sure that they had plenty to do to keep themselves distracted. Brittany had scheduled an appointment with her usual doctor during those five days to make it so they could avoid a step. Santana had already been to the doctor earlier that month for her annual so she didn’t bother with another appointment. 

But the night before the appointment proved to be the hardest for the Latina, she barely slept, tossing and turning and worrying about the appointment and all the what if’s that were occupying her mind. 

But when the alarm Brittany had set for the morning went off Santana tried to push all of her fears and thoughts out of her mind because no matter what happened she had promised the blonde that they would get through it together. 

While Santana looked and felt like a walking zombie that morning, Brittany looked like the Energizer Bunny, bouncing off the walls from excitement. She was more excited than anything about the appointment. Even though she knew that she wouldn’t be pregnant that night, just knowing that she could be soon made her so happy. 

Brittany was able to get Santana out of the house rather quickly and into a cab headed towards the doctor's office. The blonde watched her wife on the ride over, noticing how quiet she was and how her leg kept bouncing like it always does when she was feeling anxious. 

“Tana,” Brittany said, hoping to pull her wife out of whatever world she was in just for a minute. 

“Hum?” Santana said, turning her focus to Brittany. 

“I love you so much,” the dancer said smiling. 

“I love you too Britt-Britt,” Santana said, flashing a smile towards her wife. She placed a kiss on the blonde's hand she had been holding since they got in the cab. Brittany scooted closer to Santana, wanting to be close to her for the remainder of the ride. 

“No matter what happens in there we are going to have a baby,” Santana said after the pair had gotten out of the cab. She held both of Brittany’s hands as they stood outside the brick building. “Whether it takes one try or 80 tries, it is going to happen. Even if we have to adopt we are going to be parents. Are you ready to go in and get this ball rolling?” 

“I am because I have the best wife and we have been through hell to just even be where we are right now so I know we can handle this. We can do this because we are together.” 

“That’s right baby,” Santana said kissing Brittany. “We better head up there so we can find out how long until we can get you knocked up.” 

Brittany let out a laugh as Santana led them into the building and towards the elevator. 

After checking in and filling out the required forms, the couple sat in the waiting room for a few minutes before they were being led back to a different room by one of the nurses who worked in the office. Brittany squeezed Santana’s hand she was holding twice and flashed her a smile which the Latina reflected. 

“Dr. Wilson is waiting for you ladies behind this door,” the girl said to them. “Good luck!” 

As the nurse walked away the pair was rooted in their spot for a moment, knowing this was one of the last moments it would just be the two of them. 

“Together,” Santana said as she looked at Brittany. After receiving a small smile she knocked on the door. 

“Come in,” the voice on the other side said. Brittany took a deep breath before pushing the door open. 

The office they walked into wasn’t decorated like a normal office of a doctor. Santana had seen her fair share of offices growing up as the daughter of a doctor but instead of the usually cold atmosphere one could have, this one was very homely. 

Of course, there was a large desk with a pair of chairs in front of it but there was also enough space for a small couch and another single chair on the opposite wall. Instead of the nearly bare walls, Santana had seen plenty of times before, the walls of this office were covered in pictures that looked like they were done by young kids. There was also some other art but the vast majority of the walls were covered with the drawings. 

“You two must be the Lopez-Pierces?” said the voice pulling Santana out of her thoughts. She tore her eyes off the wall and looked at the person walking towards them. Santana didn’t know what she was expecting from the doctor, but the woman that was walking towards them was not it. 

The woman looked to be in her early 40’s with light brown hair and was an inch or two shorter than Brittany.

“I’m Brittany and this is my wife Santana,” Brittany said, being the first one to regain their speech. The blonde quickly shook hands with the doctor and Santana followed shortly after. 

“It is nice to meet you two, I’m Dr. Wilson but all my clients call me Erica. Why don’t we sit down and talk about what brings you two in today,” the doctor motioned to the sofa while she returned to the desk to grab something to write with. 

The couple sat down, with Brittany being the one to reach for the other one's hand this time. 

“So I heard you two want to have a baby,” Dr. Wilson said, sitting in the chair across from the sofa. Santana felt like she was back in Principal Figgins office just nodding back at the doctor. She registered hearing Brittany say yes to Dr. Wilson. “Do you have any ideas on how you two would like to go about it?” 

“We want to do reciprocal IVF,” Brittany said before Santana could speak. “Your name came up when we were doing our research on doctors in the city who specialize in that and with the success rates you have we decided to come to see if you can help us start our family,” the blonde said with a smile directed at Santana. 

“Well, we can definitely try and make you parents. Do you know who will be carrying?” 

“I will be,” Brittany said. 

“How do you feel about that Santana?” 

“I just want to have a baby with Britt, if she wants to carry it is perfectly okay with me,” the Latina said smiling at her wife. “We are ready to do whatever it takes to have a baby, together.” 

“That's wonderful to hear. Before we get into more of the medical jargon, do you have a donor lined up or—” 

“We actually already chose one from the bank you work with,” Brittany said cutting the doctor off. “Santana insisted on choosing someone who looked similar to me since we are using her egg and we might have jumped the gun but we found someone we like on the website.”

“It sounds like you two thought about everything,” Dr. Wilson said jotting something down on the pad she was holding. “So when would you two like to start? We would have to run some blood tests on both of you before we started getting really serious but those are simple.” 

“As soon as possible,” Santana said before the blonde next to her. “We both went to our personal physicians recently and they said everything was good.” 

“You have got to be the most prepared couple I have ever seen,” Dr. Wilson said with a small laugh. “I don’t even know why I’m asking this but do you have any questions for me?” 

The pair was silent for a moment before Santana broke it. 

“When is the earliest we can start trying?” 

“Well, we would have to run some initial blood tests but depending on those results and some other things Brittany could be pregnant by mid-April.” 

Santana didn’t know what she was expecting to hear but as she processed the words it was all hitting her, if everything went perfect there was a chance they could be parents by that time the following year. She turned to look at Brittany and was met with one of the brightest smiles she had seen from her wife. 

“If you would like to really get the ball rolling we can draw blood today and have them sent to the lab, I don’t know when the result would be ready but once we have that we can really start planning a schedule for you guys.” 

Brittany looked at Santana, sending her a look asking if she was ready to do everything so soon. They had just thought this was going to be a consultation, not an appointment to actually start trying for their baby. 

“We’d love to do the blood tests today,” Santana said before Brittany had a chance to speak. The brunette knew this is what they wanted, so why should they make another appointment when they could just get everything going right now. 

“Lovely,” Dr. Wilson said, getting up from her chair. “I’ll go see what room is open and then we will move in there and get things going.” 

“Tana baby you hate needles are you sure about this?” Brittany said once the pair was alone. 

“Babe, this is what we want. I don’t care what I have to go through if it means we can hold our baby whenever they decide to make an appearance,” Santana said. “Unless you didn’t want to do the tests today… we can totally tell Erica that we changed our minds—” 

“Santana you know this is what I want. I’m glad you said yes to the test because if you didn’t I was going to,” Brittany said with a laugh. 

Dr. Wilson came back a few moments later and led the pair to a room just down the hall. Santana volunteered to go first, just wanting to get things out of the way. The Latina expected an assistant to come in and do the tests but she was surprised when Dr. Wilson stayed to do it herself. 

Santana didn’t think of the needle going into her arm as she focused her attention on Brittany. Even though she had been in love with that face since they were young, Santana still was memorized by it. She knew exactly how many freckles were on her wife’s face (26) and how when she was focusing on something her left eye would close ever so slightly. Santana knew that even though biologically their baby wouldn’t be related to Brittany this time, she hoped they would at least get some of her favorite characteristics from her wife. 

Once Santana was done they quickly switched places and Brittany took the needle like a champ. Santana muttered something to her about how she is insane for not even reacting a little bit which caused Dr. Wilson to let out a small laugh. 

“All done,” Dr. Wilson said after placing the bandaid on Brittany’s arm. “I’ll have these sent to the lab today. Again I don’t know how long until the results come in but I will call you when the results come in.” 

Before she left, Erica explained some more about the process to the couple. It was stuff they had learned from their research but it was good to hear it again. Santana and Brittany nodded and thanked the doctor as she took the vials and left the room. 

“Well, now we wait,” Brittany said hopping off the chair she was seated in. 

“Yep,” Santana said, popping the end of the word. 

“Everything is going to be fine Santana,” Brittany said. “Because no matter what happens we are going to be together. Okay?” 

“Okay Britt-Britt,” Santana said as she was pulled into a hug. 

* * *

_ March 23, 2021  _

“Brittany Lopez-Pierce speaking,” the blonde said as she picked up the phone while shoving extra clothes into her bag she was going to take to the studio. Santana had a fancy business dinner that night and Brittany knew she wasn’t going to have enough time to come back to the apartment before then, ergo the dress she was shoving into her backpack. 

_ “Hi this is Theresa at Dr. Wilson’s office and I’m just calling to let you and your wife know that we got the results of your blood tests back and they were all good.”  _

Brittany stopped shoving the dress in the bag as the words hit her ears. She didn’t know the results would be in that soon but she felt like a weight was off both hers and Santana’s shoulders. The first hurdle they needed to cross was done and everything was starting to feel more real. 

“Oh that’s great news,” Brittany said sitting on the bed.

_ “It is. Dr. Wilson wanted me to let you know that you and Santana are welcome to schedule a follow-up appointment anytime now.”  _

“What do you have open tomorrow?” Brittany said without thinking. The line was silent for a few beats before the voice came back.

_ “Looks like we have an 8:30 a.m. or a 12:45 p.m.”  _

“We’ll take the 12:45,” Brittany said. She didn’t have to teach a class until 3:30 that evening and she knew Santana liked to take her lunch break around that time so it would work out perfectly. She felt a little guilty making the appointment without her wife but deep down she knew this is what Santana would want to. 

_ “Great! We will put you guys down for that time. I will call your _ —” 

“Oh there's no need to do that,” Brittany said cutting the receptionist off. “I was actually on my way to her office so I can tell her and save you the hassle of another phone call.” 

_ “Okay, I will mark that down here then. If you have any questions between now and tomorrow don’t hesitate to call us!”  _

Brittany quickly thanked the receptionist before hanging up the phone. She finished shoving her heels and dress into her bag before shooting Chelsea a quick text telling her she would be in late that morning. 

The blonde quickly caught a cab and told the driver of the address. She paid as they came to a stop in front of a tall building on the outskirts of the city. She walked into the building and made her way to the elevator where she punched the button for the ninth floor. 

Once the doors opened to the floor, the blonde pulled open the glass doors that were in front of her. 

“Is that the most talented dancer in the city?” the woman said behind the desk. 

“I wouldn’t say I’m the most talented Maggie,” Brittany said with a laugh. 

“Don’t let that wife of yours hear you say that.” 

“Speaking of my wife is she busy right now?” 

“Not that I know of,” Maggie said. “Is there something wrong?” 

“No, it's just that she left something at home and I just thought I would bring it by before I went to the studio.” 

“Well aren’t you the sweetest. She should be in her office if you want to head back there.” 

“Sweet thanks, Maggie!” Brittany said, turning towards where her wife's office was located. When she found the door she was looking for she quickly knocked and waited for a response. 

“Come in,” her favorite sound came back a few seconds later. Santana didn’t look up from her computer right away so Brittany slowly entered the room closing the door behind her. “Maggie as much as I love our gossip sessions I’ve already told you I don’t know anything about Rachel’s new show.” 

“Oh that’s a lie and we both know that,” Brittany said looking at her wife as she took off her backpack. The brunette looked up from her computer after hearing the response from a voice she wasn’t expecting. 

“Britt baby what are you doing here?” Santana said standing up from her desk and walking towards her wife. “Is everything okay? I told Q that Deli on 9th was suspect at best.” 

“Everyone is okay Tana,” Brittany said, taking Santana’s hands in hers. 

“Oh well, why are you here then? Not that I’m upset my beautiful wife decided to surprise me,” Santana said leaning in and kissing her wife. The brunette wrapped her arms around Brittany’s neck while the blonde's arms made their way around Santana’s waist. 

“Well Dr. Wilson’s office called me this morning,” Brittany said as she felt Santana stiffen up in her embrace. Santana placed her head against her wife's chest bracing herself for the worst. “Both of our tests came back clean and we have an appointment for tomorrow at 12:45 to talk about the next steps.” 

As soon as the words were out of Brittany’s mouth Santana was looking at her shell shocked.

“Sanny sweetheart say something. Is tomorrow too soon? I can call and cancel the—” 

“No, don't cancel it,” Santana said, cutting her off. “I’m just in shock that you are probably going to be pregnant by this summer.” 

“Let’s not jump the gun Tana,” Brittany said. “It could take a few tries.” 

“I don’t think it will,” Santana said. “It’s us. When we want something we get it. But I am glad you made the appointment because if you hadn’t I was going to call them right now and schedule it.” 

Santana pulled Brittany into a hug and the pair just swayed together for a few minutes. 

“We are one day closer to having our baby,” Brittany said. 

“Yeah we are babe,” Santana said. 

* * *

_ March 24, 2021 _

To say Santana couldn’t focus would be an understatement. She had been rereading the same paragraph of the contract one of her clients had sent her for the last hour. The Latina pressed the home button on her phone to see if it was finally time to meet her wife at Dr. Wilson’s office. With their appointment at 12:45, Santana knew she had to be out of the office no later than noon to deal with the potential lunch traffic throughout the city. 

11:32 a.m. 

_ A little under half an hour  _ she thought to herself. She could last 30 minutes until she had to leave. She turned her attention back to the sheet of paper in front of her and began to focus on the list of stipulations that was being asked of her client. 

She was about to move to the third page of the document when her phone flashed one of her favorite photos of Brittany. 

“Hey, baby what’s up?” Santana said, pulling the phone to her ear. 

“Does it feel like today is going by really slow for you too?” her wife said without a greeting. 

“Yeah it does,” Santana said with a chuckle leaning back into her chair. The line fell silent and Santana had to double-check that the call hadn’t been disconnected. “Britt?” 

“I’m nervous Santana,” Brittany said in a whisper. 

Since the first conversation they had about starting a family Santana had been the one to express her anxieties and fear with the whole process while Brittany had been the rock. The comment took the Latina out of it for a moment. 

“Why’s that B? Are you having second thoughts?” 

“No I would never have second thoughts about starting a family with you Santana, it’s just,” the blonde said trailing off. 

“Just what Brittany?”

Santana heard her wife take a deep breath before continuing. 

“What if we go through all this and it never works. What if we never have our baby?” Brittany said with her voice cracking. Santana could picture her wife with tears filling her bright blue eyes.

Santana checked the time on her computer, 11:45. If she left now she could get to the studio by 12 and then she could head to Dr. Wilson’s office with her. Without thinking twice she grabbed her bag and headed towards the elevator of the building. She had already told everyone that she would be taking a long lunch today so what were an extra 15 minutes. 

“I just don’t want to put you through all of this if nothing will happen,” Brittany said into the phone as she slowly started to cry more. 

“But baby, all our tests came back clean and Dr. Wilson said that we both are perfectly healthy,” Santana said as she hopped into a cab, quickly telling the driver the address she needed. 

“What if the tests were wrong somehow San? Science isn’t always 100% correct.” 

“I know that Brittany but I know you’ve done all the research on this and how low is the percentage of times that couples fail even if all their tests are clean?” 

Brittany sighed before she answered, “Really low.” 

“See we have nothing to worry about. And what did I say about us and this journey?” 

“We are in this together,” Brittany said with a sniffle. Santana could picture Brittany flashing a little smile towards the ground. “I love you so much, Santana.” 

“I love you too Britt,” Santana said as she threw some money at the cabbie as she pulled up to the studio. 

“Enough of my blubbering like a mess, how are things at the firm?” 

“Uh pretty slow,” Santana said as she opened the door to the studio. She waved to Chelsea as she walked into the lobby. She began to head towards her wife's office. “How are things at the studio?” 

“Okay. I’m just trying to get this paperwork before I have to leave to meet you at Erica’s office,” Brittany said. “I wish we could have gone together instead of just meeting there.”

Santana quickly arrived at Brittany’s office and knocked on the door. 

“San someone is at my door. I'll call you when I head out to go to the doctors. I love you.” 

“Love you too Britt,” Santana said somewhat quietly. She slipped the phone into her pocket and waited for Brittany to open the door. The Latina stood in front of the wood door with a smile on her face. 

As the door swung open Santana watched as all sorts of emotions crossed the blonde's face before she was stepping back as the dancer launched herself at the tiny brunette. 

“Tana, what are you doing here?” Brittany said into Santana’s shoulder. 

“Well, I got worried about you when you called me so I decided to come and surprise you and escort you to our very important doctor's appointment.” 

“You are the sweetest person on the planet,” Brittany said leaning in and kissing Santana.

“I learned from the best,” Santana said after they parted. “But you better grab your stuff so we aren’t late.” 

Santana patted Brittany’s ass as the blonde turned back into her office to grab her stuff. Brittany grabbed her wallet and keys and threw them into Santana’s bag like always after locking the door. 

After a quick goodbye to Chelsea, the pair hopped in a cab towards Dr. Wilson’s office. 

By 12:46 the pair was in an exam room waiting for the doctor to come in. They both were sitting on the bed in the room, their hands intertwined and on Brittany’s lap. It was silent as Santana ran her thumb along the back of Brittany’s hand. Sensing the nerves in her wife, Santana pulled their hands to her lips and pressed a quick kiss on Brittany's hand. 

Brittany rested her head on Santana’s shoulder for a brief moment before jumping slightly as someone knocked on the door. 

“Come in,” Santana said. 

“Well if it isn’t two of my hopefully very soon mommies,” Dr. Wilson said with a smile. 

Brittany moved her head from Santana’s shoulder and smiled. 

“So how are you both today?” 

“We’re good,” Santana started. “Nervous but good.” 

“It isn’t bad to be nervous but is there anything I can help with to put some of those nerves to rest?” 

Santana looked at Brittany waiting for her to take the lead but was surprised when the blonde shook her head no. 

“Well if that changes let me know,” Erica said. “But let's talk about today. We went over a lot of it at that first appointment but we are in the perfect spot to have Santana start on the shots for the egg retrieval and to put Brittany on the estrogen for the insemination. How are we feeling about that?” 

“I’m ready to start whenever San is,” Brittany said. “She’s doing most of the heavy lifting with this part so I’ll let her make the call.” 

“And Santana how do you feel about it all?” Erica said from her chair. Santana took a deep breath before answering the doctor. 

“Let’s do it,” she said looking at Brittany with a smile. Brittany’s eyes met Santana’s and the brunette fell in love all over again. 

“Wonderful!” Erica said as she began to go on about how everything would work, Santana would be starting daily injections that night once they got the prescription and would be on them for the next 10 days. She would also have to come in frequently to monitor things during the process. Meanwhile, Brittany would be starting estrogen shots that day as well. “And if all goes well twelve days from now we can retrieve some of Santana’s eggs and get them fertilized and hopefully Brittany will be pregnant by mid-April.” 

The pair just sat on the bed taking in all the information they could while also supplying some to Erica. Thirty minutes later their prescriptions were at the pharmacy by their house and would be ready to pick up once Santana left the office that night. After everything was set Erica said her goodbyes and left the couple alone. 

“How are you feeling now?” Santana said. 

“Better. How are you Miss ‘I hate needles but now I’m going to let my wife poke me with one every day for the next ten days?’”

“Oddly calm with it all,” Santana said hopping off the bed. “I would gladly be poked with as many needles as need be to have a baby with you.” 

“I’ll remember that when you start bitching about your shots tonight,” Brittany said, sliding off the bed and back onto the floor. 

* * *

_ March 25, 2021 _

“Britt just do it and stop making me wait for the pain,” Santana said as she laid on the king-size bed on her back with her arm over her eyes. 

“I’m trying San, I just don’t want to mess this up,” Brittany said as she took the needle out of the vial. She sat down on the edge of the bed and put one of her hands on her wife's toned abs. “You ready?” 

“I’ve been ready for the last ten minutes, just do the damn thing.” 

“Oo someone is feeling sassy today,” Brittany said as she got ready to put the needle just beside Santana’s belly button. “I know you wanted a countdown yesterday since it was the first but do you want one this time?” 

“No just do it,” Santana said. 

Brittany pressed a kiss to the injection site before quickly emptying the contents of the needle into the soft skin.

“All done,” Brittany said after she put everything away. She climbed up to lay next to Santana in the bed. The Latina rolled over and buried her face into her wife. 

“I’m glad one of us is at least okay with needles because this shit sucks,” she said. 

“Santana it’s only day two and I’ve been giving myself my shots before work because you can’t even handle giving me my shots.” 

“I just don’t like the thought of doing something that hurts you,” Santana said. 

“It doesn’t hurt you are just a baby,” Brittany said with a joking tone. 

“And you are a meanie,” Santana said sticking her tongue out. “But I love you even because of that.” 

“I love you too Tana.” 

* * *

_ April 4, 2021 _

“Alright, Santana are you ready?” Erica said to the brunette who was laying on the bed inside the outpatient room.

All of her shots had done exactly what they were intended to and that is why she and Brittany were in the office on Easter. If someone had told her she would have been spending the day having her eggs retrieved so she and Brittany could start their family she would have called them crazy. But as the days passed with the injections and checkups, Dr. Wilson had decided that Sunday would be the best day to do the procedure. 

“Yeah I am,” Santana said, getting more comfortable on the hard bed. 

“Okay this will only take a few minutes,” Dr. Wilson said. 

Santana had opted for the local anesthesia instead of being knocked out completely. As Dr. Wilson gave the count down signaling her start, Santana extended her hand to Brittany. The blonde took it and kissed it, leaning in so her mouth was right next to the Latina’s ear. 

“I love you so much Tana,” Brittany whispered. “And when we get home I am doing nothing but doting on you. You are such a trooper and I’m so proud of you.”

“I love you too Britt. But we promised my parents we would call them tonight like we do on every holiday.” 

“Are we going to tell them about how we are trying?” 

“I would love to but you know if we tell them they aren’t going to leave us alone. It’s going to be constant calls and texts asking for updates and I don’t want that stress on you.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Brittany said. “Plus I’d rather tell them when we know that they for sure have a grandkid on the way instead of the thought of having one.” 

Santana mumbled something as Brittany tried to get as close as she could without getting on the bed. It felt like they had been in that position for just a few seconds when a voice pulled them out of their little world. 

“We are all done Santana,” Dr. Wilson said, putting her hand on Santana’s knee. “We will get these fertilized with the donor you both chose and then we will call you in the next few days to schedule the transfer procedure. And just like we talked about before this Brittany will be adding the progesterone shot starting today to make sure she is ready for the transfer.” 

The pair nodded as they listened to the doctor explain both post-op care for Santana as well as the other things Brittany would need to do before their next appointment. 

“I’m going to run these little guys to where they need to go and then I’ll be back to check on you Santana and if everything looks good you both will be set to head home,” Erica said standing. 

“Thank you so much, Erica,” Brittany said as the doctor left the room. 

“You are finally done sweetheart,” Brittany said when they were alone. She placed a chaste kiss on Santana’s lips. 

“And you are just starting,” Santana said. 

“Hey, I’ve been on shots for the same amount of time as you.” 

“I know but now is the start of the heavy lifting for you baby,” Santana said. “Can you hand me my sweats?” 

“Your sweats?” Brittany said getting off her chair and walking to the counter where the pants were. “Last time I checked you didn’t go to Julliard.” 

“Britt you know your sweats are comfier than anything I own.” 

“I just think it’s cute,” Brittany said, sitting down and handing her wife the grey sweatpants. “Somehow you always end up with all my comfy clothes. But I’m not complaining because you look really hot in them.” 

Brittany leaned in and started to kiss Santana, it wasn’t very strong but the brunette could feel the passion coming from her wife. Before anything could come from it there was a knock on the door. 

“Come in,” Santana said. 

Dr. Wilson reentered the room and let the girls know that the eggs had been fertilized and that Santana was good to go home. Before she left she told them someone would call in the next few days to set up their next appointment. 

* * *

_ April 9, 2021  _

When the day for the IVF transfer came both of the girls were scared. Dr. Wilson had called them earlier in the week and told them that they had six viable embryos they could transfer at the appointment. After talking it over the pair decided to only go with one this time and to freeze the other five just in case the first round didn’t work.

Both of the girls had taken the day off work and were going to have a long weekend while Brittany recovered from the procedure. They found themselves in the same room they were in a few days earlier but the roles were switched. Santana was holding one of Brittany’s hands and kept placing kisses on her knuckles. 

“Okay Brittany this is going to be quick and easy,” Dr. Wilson said. “I’ll be over before you know it. Are you ready?” 

The blonde nodded and took a deep breath and closed her eyes before Dr. Wilson gave her a countdown. She faintly heard Santana whisper something in her ear but she couldn't fully register what she was saying. 

“And we are all done,” Dr. Wilson said a few minutes later. “See that was easy. I’ll leave you two alone and I’ll be back in 30 minutes to check on Brittany and if everything looks good you two will be good to go home and take it easy.” 

Santana nodded as the doctor left the pair alone. “So do you feel pregnant yet?” Santana joked. 

“Not funny Tana,” Brittany said as she swatted at the brunette with her eyes still closed. 

* * *

_ April 18, 2021 _

Santana was so extremely grateful that the first day Brittany could take a pregnancy test was on a Sunday. She didn’t have to worry about work and in case the test came back negative she had taken the next day off so she could be with Brittany. 

Neither one slept the night before, they were tossing and turning worried about if the IVF had worked and if Brittany was going to have to go through all the shots and everything again next month. 

The morning of the 18th, Santana was the first of the two to get out of bed, it was close to 10:30 and while Brittany was always the early riser out of the pair but Santana wanted to make her wife feel as stress-free as possible that day. 

She made her way to the kitchen and put on a pot of decaf coffee. Even though Brittany said she didn’t have to, Santana promised her that she would give up all the things the blonde couldn’t have while she was pregnant. They had started cutting out caffeine as soon as their initial blood tests and while it definitely wasn't the same as normal coffee, Santana was starting to get used to it. 

The brunette started to make some blueberry pancakes as the coffee brewed. She also cut up some other fruit and poured some orange juice into some cups, placing it all on a tray. 

Once everything was done Santana slowly carried it back to the bedroom making sure she didn’t trip over Stevie in the process. She set the tray on the nightstand on her side of the bed and then climbed back into the bed. 

“Britt-Britt baby, it's time to wake up,” Santana said, placing a kiss on the blonde's forehead. “I made your favorite blueberry pancakes.” 

“What time is it?” the blonde mumbled as she slowly became more aware of her surroundings. 

“Almost eleven,” Santana said as she turned back to the tray grabbing the mug with the script B on it. “How are you feeling?” 

“Tired but good,” Brittany said, sitting up and accepting the mug. “Little scared to take the test today but also excited to take it.” 

“Well before we do that let’s make sure baby mama is fed,” Santana said as she grabbed the tray and put it in front of the pair. 

“Tana you know there is a chance it didn’t work right?” 

“I do, but my psychic Mexican third eye says we won’t have to try next month because you are pregnant right now. But if it didn’t work we are going to try again next month, and then every month after that until you are pregnant.” 

“Because we are in this together,” Brittany said. 

“Hell yeah, we are babe. Now eat up before it gets cold.” 

After sharing a nice breakfast together the pair didn’t know if it was the time to take the test or not. They both were anxious to do it but Santana was going to let Brittany take the lead on when the test would be taken. 

Around 1 p.m. after watching their third episode of Chopped Brittany broached the topic. 

“I want to take a test.” 

“Do you want me to come with you or wait out here?” 

“Out here if that’s okay.” 

Santana nodded as Brittany got off the bed and walked to the master bathroom. Brittany had read that sometimes it was best to take two tests just in case so she grabbed two out of the stock Santana had bought a few days earlier and used them. She placed them on the sink counter, washed her hands, and went to rejoin her wife. 

“Can you set a timer?” Brittany said curling into Santana when she got back on the bed. 

“Yeah totally,” Santana said, grabbing her phone and setting the timer. The Latina started to run her hand through the blonde's soft locks, occasionally placing a kiss on the crown of her head. 

The timer went off before both of them were ready, causing them to jump. Brittany wordlessly got up from the bed not releasing Santana’s hand she had grabbed while they were waiting for the timer to go off. She led Santana to the bathroom where their fate was waiting. 

“Okay before we look no matter what they say I love you more than anything Brittany Susan Lopez-Pierce.” 

“I love you too Santana,” Brittany said, pulling the smaller woman into a hug. 

“Together?” Santana said when they parted. 

“Together. Flip it over on three.” 

Each girl grabbed a stick and Santana took a moment before counting down. 

“1… 2…. 3…” 

Both hands flipped over the white sticks and were met with the same result. 

“Oh my god,” Brittany said, dropping the stick as her hands covered her mouth. Her blue eyes began to fill with tears. 

“Brittany….” Santana said, staring at the tests. 

“I’m pregnant,” Brittany said in almost a whisper. The tears were now racing down her cheeks. “Santana I’m pregnant.” 

Santana couldn’t take her eyes off the two positive tests but hearing her name come from Brittany’s mouth pulled her out of the staring game she was playing. As soon as she saw the tears falling from the blonde's eyes she started crying herself. 

Before she could think twice Santana was launching herself at her wife, wrapping her in the biggest hug she had ever given her. 

“Oh my god Britt we are having a baby,” Santana said kissing her wife with her arms still wrapped around her. 

“Yeah Santana we are having a baby,” Brittany said kissing her wife back. After separating Santana lowered herself so she was eye level with Brittany’s stomach. She pushed up Brittany’s t-shirt and placed a kiss right below the blonde's belly button. 

“Hi baby, it’s one of your mommies and I just wanted to let you know that I love you and your other mommy very much and we can’t wait to meet you,” Santana said as Brittany ran one of her hands through Santana’s dark brown hair. 

Santana stood up a few seconds later and was pulled into another hug, “I can’t believe I’m actually pregnant,” Brittany said. 

“I told you babe my Mexican psychic third eye is never wrong,” Santana said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAA BRITTANY AND SANTANA ARE HAVING A BABY!!!! 
> 
> This chapter was a work of love, and while the internet is only so helpful I just want to say I'm not a doctor so I apologize for any incorrect information. 
> 
> As always I want to thank Brittany (@proudly-so on tumblr) for the constant support and just being there for me while I struggled with this one. She is the best! 
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez if you ever want to talk about the fic or anything Glee related!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long but I hope you enjoy it!

After Dr. Wilson confirmed that Brittany was ‘pregnant pregnant’ as Santana put it at the appointment, things really started to set in. 

A few weeks after the confirmation Brittany wanted to do something special for Santana. She quickly called up Santana’s favorite Italian restaurant a few blocks from her office and made a reservation on her day off from the studio that week. Once that was done Brittany grabbed Santana’s iPad and found the app she was looking for. 

Santana was notorious for putting a mass amount of clothes into her shopping cart and never buying a single item. Brittany scrolled through the forty-plus items in the cart, most of them were things she could wear to the office or pairs of sky-high heels the smaller brunette would wear. Right as Brittany was about to give up and move onto the next shopping app she found what she was looking for. 

She copied the item number off the iPad and opened the site on her computer, putting the purchase on the card she knew Santana never used. The blonde selected the overnight shipping option and made a mental note to tell their doorman to only let her know when it was delivered. She removed the item from Santana’s cart and put the device away. 

Brittany knew it was early to be thinking about telling people about BLP as Santana had taken to calling the baby but Brittany wanted it to be special for their family and friends. She would have to ask Santana but Brittany knew she wanted to tell their parents in person. It was something too big to do over Skype plus Brittany wanted to see their family. As for their friends, it wouldn’t be easy to get all of them who lived in the city together one night at someone's apartment to tell them the news. 

But then there was actually telling everyone. Brittany quickly spiraled down a massive Pinterest hole looking at all the ways they could break the news to everyone. She was so interested in the computer on her lap she didn’t even notice when Stevie hopped down from her spot next to Brittany to go see what was causing the noise around the door to the apartment. 

When Santana opened the door she was greeted by Stevie, and while their relationship started off somewhat rough the pair quickly got used to each other and came to form a nice bond. 

“Hey Stevie,” Santana said, crouching down and rubbing behind the cat's ear. After taking off her coat and putting it on the rack by the door Santana walked deeper into the apartment looking for her wife. It didn’t take long to find the blonde sitting cross-legged on the couch with her laptop perched on her lap. Santana crept up behind the furniture and placed her chin on Brittany’s shoulder. “Whatcha lookin at babe?” 

The dancer jumped at Santana’s voice. She had thought Stevie had climbed onto her shoulder as she does sometimes. 

“Tana you scared the shit out of me,” Brittany said, putting her hand over her heart and turning to face the brunette. “You can’t keep doing that.” 

“Hey usually you are the one who scares me, not the other way around,” Santana said, throwing her hands up in defense. She walked around the couch and dropped down onto the couch. “What were you looking at that has all of your attention?” 

“You are going to think I’m getting ahead of myself,” Brittany said, lowering the screen of the laptop. 

“Well, I can’t tell you if that is true or not if you don’t tell me why you are getting ahead of yourself.” 

Brittany was silent for a few seconds. Stevie jumped back onto the couch and Brittany used the cat as a distraction to not answer her wife. 

“Britt baby please just tell me,” Santana said, lifting Brittany’s chin so their eyes met. 

“I was looking up cute ways to tell our friends and family about BLP. I know Dr. Wilson still said we have a long way to go but I just want it to be perfect.” 

Santana didn’t respond right away. The idea of telling their friends and family even hadn’t crossed her mind. For some reason, she pictured all of them just finding out one day and that being that. But this wasn’t something that could be done over a text like when they adopted Stevie, this was their baby, so it had to be perfect.

“It is a little soon to be thinking about it but what ideas are floating around in that beautiful head of yours,” Santana finally said. 

“Santana we should make this decision together, this is your baby too.” 

“I know but you are the one who is giving up her body for the next god knows how long to make it happen so I’m fine with you making the call.” 

“Well, my call is that we make this choice together.” 

“Your wish is my command baby,” Santana said, leaning in and kissing Brittany. It wasn’t too much but it wasn’t one of their quick pecks they shared a lot. 

“Can we go to Ohio and tell our parents?” Brittany said once they had parted. “This is going to be their first grandchild and I think it would be better to tell them in person than on Skype.” 

“Yeah we can totally do that Britt-Britt,” Santana said as she moved the laptop from Brittany’s lap and put it on the coffee table. The Latina placed her head in the blonde's lap and laid out across the couch. “Dr. Wilson said you are a little over two weeks pregnant so that means you’d be in the clear in—”

“June,” Brittany said, cutting Santana off as she ran her hand through dark locks. “Things will have calmed down at the studio so I won’t have to leave Chelsea with a lot to worry about. Do you think you could get time off at the firm? We could do a weekend if you can’t get a whole week off.” 

“I’m sure I can get time off. We might not be able to go for weeks but I’m sure we could go for longer than a weekend.” 

“How should we tell them though,” Brittany said after a moment of silence. “I don’t want to just blurt it out to them at dinner, I want it to be special.” 

“And it will be. But we have some time to figure out how we want to do it.” 

“But Tana everything needs to be perfect, not only for when we tell them but also when we tell all our friends. I know it’s not a competition but we have to one-up Blaine and Kurt's announcement.” 

Santana slightly zoned out as Brittany continued to ramble on about their announcement. She turned so that she was facing Brittany’s stomach.

“Hey BLP can you tell mama that she needs to chill with this announcement thing. She should know by now that anything we do is amazing and everything is going to work out perfectly.” 

By the end of her little speech, Santana had started drawing random patterns on Brittany’s t-shirt not noticing that her wife had stopped talking and was looking directly at her. 

“Tana, what did you call me?” 

“I know we haven’t talked about what any kids of ours would call us and I know it's stupid but even back in high school when I was thinking about our future I always just pictured you being mama and me being mami but I can totally be mama if you—”

“I love that you’ve been thinking about us having kids since high school,” Brittany said as Santana’s eyes met hers. “But I’d love to be mama to this baby and any other ones we have down the line.” 

“Really?” Santana said with a few tears in her eyes. 

“Really Santana. You are going to be one hot mami.” 

“I love you so much Britt,” Santana said looking up at her wife. 

“I love you too sweetheart,” Brittany responded. 

“And I love you too BLP,” Santana said, placing a kiss on the blonde's stomach. 

“Are you going to do that for the next nine months?” Brittany asked.

Santana looked back at the blonde with a brief look of panic on her face. “Do you not want me to Britt because I don’t have to. I just thought it was cute but you are the pregnant one so you make the calls.”

“No I think it's adorable,” Brittany said as she removed her hand from Santana's hair and onto her cheek. “I just didn’t think it would start this soon or let alone if you would feel comfortable with it.” 

“Well since BLP gets to spend all their time right now with you, I thought I would get a jump start on our bonding time. Plus with you around, there’s a good chance I won't say something that could scar them.” 

“You would never scar them baby,” Brittany said as Santana turned her head to look Brittany in the eyes. “You will most likely embarrass them but I don’t think you would ever scar them.” 

The pair fell into one of their comfortable silences, Brittany resuming running her hand through Santana’s hair while the Latina started playing with the blonde's left hand. In moments like this Santana would mainly play with Brittany’s left hand, spinning the wedding band around the blonde's finger.

“Britt?” 

Brittany hummed something in response to Santana. 

“I’m really excited to become a mom with you,” Santana said without taking her eyes off Brittany’s engagement ring. A small smile crossed Brittany’s face at Santana’s confession. “I’m still scared shitless but I know that I’ll be able to handle it with you by my side.” 

“Santana what did you tell me right as we started IVF?” 

Santana looked back at Brittany with a look of slight confusion. 

“You told me we were going to do this together. And even though we are done with the first step doesn’t mean that we are going to stop doing this together. This journey is just starting and I’m so excited to do it with you too.” 

Santana sat up and immediately her lips met with Brittany’s. Little did the dancer know that her little speech had inspired something deep within the brunette. 

* * *

“What do you want Q?” Santana said, putting her phone to her ear. It was a Thursday in April and Santana was trying to make sure she was on top of her work so she could be with Brittany for every doctor's appointment. 

“Well hello to you too Santana,” the blonde said in response. “I was just calling to see if you wanted to get lunch today. I’m going to be close to your office and I haven’t seen you and Britt that much since you helped me move in with Rach. You two kept coming up with excuses to not come over to our place when we had those game nights.” 

Santana knew it was true. Even since they had started trying to get pregnant they showed up to fewer and fewer get-togethers. It’s not that they were avoiding their friends but the shots took a toll on both of them in different ways. Santana was hit with the most intense case of nausea for the majority of the time she was on her shots. Brittany on the other hand had headaches that made her call out of the studio a few times. 

“We are really sorry about it Quinn,” Santana started as she leaned back in her chair. She made sure her next statement was something that both she and Brittany could keep up until June. “Things both here and at the studio have been crazy the last few weeks but hopefully things should be starting to calm down again and we can start coming by again.” 

“So does that mean you can make some time for your second best friend to get some lunch? I’ll pay.”

Santana thought for a minute, she had been missing Quinn and her certain brand of crazy as of late. Plus the blonde still owed her lunch from helping her move in a few weeks earlier. 

“Fine, where are you taking me?” 

“Do you want to meet at that deli we love a few blocks from your office?” 

“Yeah, that works. What time are you thinking of meeting up? I have to be out of here for the day by 4 because Britt has something planned.” 

“Why would Britt plan something? Last time I checked your anniversary and her birthday had passed and your birthday isn’t for a few more months.” 

“This might come as a shock to you Q but sometimes the person you are dating or married to wants to just surprise you just because they love you,” Santana said looking at a photo from her honeymoon on her desk. “Obviously you don’t surprise Berry and she hasn’t done anything for you either.” 

“Rachel does surprise me with things for your information. But back to your original question, do you want to meet in 30 minutes?” 

“Yeah, that should work.” 

“Cool, I’ll see you then,” Quinn said. They exchanged a quick goodbye before hanging up. 

Santana tried to refocus on her work but she knew it was pointless. She quickly gathered up all her things and started to head to the deli. The Latina decided to walk instead of catching a cab. As she walked down the street she noticed a shop a few doors down from the deli that she hadn’t seen before. She was instantly drawn in by the items in the window and decided to look around to kill some time. 

After taking three steps into the store Santana already felt overwhelmed. There were about a dozen different styles of cribs to her left and the same amount of rocking chairs to the right. Just the thought of having to decide on 

“Is there something you are looking for,” a voice said, stopping Santana as she was about to bolt for the door. 

“Umm not really. I was just trying to kill some time before meeting a friend for lunch and I just thought I would look around.” 

“Okay well if you have any questions let me know!” the woman said in response. 

“Actually I do have one,” Santana started. “Could you show me where the stuffed animals are?” 

The worker smiled and motioned for Santana to follow her. If Santana was overwhelmed by the number of cribs, the stuffed animal selection was twice as daunting. There was almost every single animal imaginable both real and fictional displayed in some form on the shelves. 

“I’ll leave you to it,” the worker said. Santana quickly thanked her and then went back to looking at all the animals. The Latina took a deep breath before trying to decide what animal she was going to buy. She looked at the many unicorn options before deciding against them, that was Brittany’s animal, she needed something that would only be for BLP. 

She quickly dismissed the dogs, they were too common. She decided against the cats, they had a real one, why would the baby need a stuffed one. 

But when she saw the little stuffed lion on the shelf she knew it was the one. She grabbed the fluffy animal and decided to look around a little bit more before meeting up with Quinn. 

As she rounded the corner of a display she thought she had found her new favorite store. Santana didn’t know that there was going to be a lot of options when it came to shoes for their baby but Santana was determined to make sure that no matter what her and Brittany’s kid was going to be the best dressed one. 

She was immediately drawn to the tiny little ballet flats, her mind running wild thoughts of all the cute little dresses and skirts they would dress their daughter in. But then she stopped remembering that the baby her wife was carrying could also be a boy. She then took in all the tiny shoes that looked like dress shoes. 

But what really caught her eye was a tiny pair of black sneakers that looked like Converse. She knew no matter if they had a son or daughter the sneakers would be worn. Santana knew she had to get them so after looking through all of the sneakers to determine that they were one size and she didn’t need to worry, she headed towards the cash register. 

“I see you decided on a stuffed animal,” the woman who helped Santana earlier said as she picked up the animal and scanned it. 

“Yeah I did,” Santana said with a small smile. The two slipped into some simple small talk as Santana paid for the items. 

The Latina quietly laughed when the woman asked her if the items were a gift and if she wanted them wrapped. She politely declined and once everything was paid for she took the items in her bag before heading towards the deli. 

“Damn I almost thought you forgot about me,” Quinn said after Santana sat down in the booth they usually chose. 

“I would never forget about you Q,” Santana said picking up the menu. She looked over it for a moment before she realized she was just going to get her usual. She closed the menu and looked up at her friend. 

“With the way you and Britt have been dodging us for the last few weeks, I would argue with your statement.” 

Santana sighed and threw her head back dramatically. “Quinn I already told you things have been crazy at work the last few weeks for both of us but it should hopefully be calming down soon so we should be back to watching you and Berry drool all over each other.” 

“As if we don’t have to warn you and B when we are about to enter a room for fear we are walking in on you two doing God knows what.” 

Before Santana could respond a waitress approached the pair and took their orders. Once she left they fell into some idle small talk, how Quinn’s manuscript was coming, if Santana was making any progress at becoming a partner at the firm, how things were going for Rachel’s show. The conversation continued until their food came a few minutes later. 

“So what’s the real reason you wanted to get lunch Quinn?” Santana said putting a fry into her mouth. 

“What do you mean? As weird as it is to admit, I really have missed seeing you so often.” 

“Sure you did Q,” Santana said with her voice dripping in sarcasm. “Well, whenever you want to buck up and tell me what is going on you know I’ll be here.” 

Quinn mumbled something back to Santana before a semi-comfortable silence washed over the two of them. 

“I want to propose to Rachel,” Quinn blurted out of nowhere a few minutes later. Santana’s jaw fell open as she just stared at one of her best friends. 

“Did I hear you correctly? You want to propose to Berry?” 

“Yeah I do,” Quinn said looking down at her salad and not wanting to meet Santana’s eyes. “I think we both are ready. I know she hasn’t been divorced for a year yet but considering our past and everything, I don’t think it really matters. And I love her, probably more than I have loved anyone else. I don’t want to waste another minute living without her, ya know?” 

“Oh you know I know exactly the feeling you are talking about Quinn. So do you have a ring yet?” 

“Not exactly. That’s what else I wanted to ask you, since you’ve done the whole ring shopping thing before I was wondering if you would want to go with me.” 

Santana looked at her friend for a moment, she had been through the process before but she knew exactly what style of ring she was going to get Britt from the moment they first started dating. Something that had enough flash to draw someone's attention but not something a Kardashian would wear. 

“Of course I’ll help you Q. Can’t let Berry have an ugly ring can we?” 

“No we can’t,” Quinn said with a smile. 

“I’m happy for you Quinn, seriously. I’m glad you finally are with someone who you truly care about. The two of you have been through hell and you deserve this. Plus the two of you look good together, not as good as Britt and I but a close second.” 

Quinn laughed as the waitress came back with the bill. The blonde thanked the woman as she fished around her purse for her wallet, “I just hope if she says yes we are half as happy as you and Britt. Even though you are both so cute together it's annoying at times, I know the shit you both have been through and you deserve it.” 

“You and Rachel deserve it too,” Santana said sliding out of the booth after Quinn put some bills down to cover their meal. “And I know she will say yes because she looks at you like you hung the moon. But I call being your maid of honor right now.” 

“Well you are going to have some stiff competition with your wife if Rach says yes,” Quinn said as they headed out of the deli and back onto the street. 

“Not if Quinn, when she says yes,” Santana said. “You need to stop being so negative about all of this. I would put money on it. By this time next year, you will be Quinn Berry-Fabray or whatever combination of your guy's names you decide on.” 

“Oh and will you and Britt finally have decided if you are going to have a baby by then too?” Quinn said with sarcasm. 

“Maybe,” Santana said, shrugging off the comment. “You know I could never say no to Britt. But speaking of my lovely wife I should really get back to the office so I can be out of there in time for whatever she has planned for tonight. Thank you for lunch.” 

Santana leaned in and hugged her friend. “I promise Britt and I will be around more soon.” 

“You better. If not I know where you live and you gave me a key.” 

After finishing off their goodbyes the pair split. But Santana didn’t notice Quinn watching her as the Latina’s eyes were drawn in by the baby store once again. 

* * *

Santana made sure she was out the door of the office exactly at 4 that evening, she had no clue what Brittany had planned but she wanted to make sure she didn’t ruin it. 

After a cab ride back to the apartment that took way too long in her opinion Santana was finally opening the front door. 

“Britt, babe I’m home,” she said as she slipped off her jacket, hanging it on the hook that she always used. After not getting a response Santana thought that Brittany wasn’t home from the studio yet but seeing her sneakers and keys by the door she knew her wife was home. Santana grabbed her purse off the floor and headed towards their bedroom. 

As Santana entered the doorway she was rendered frozen in place. Brittany stood in front of the floor-length mirror that was in the pair's bedroom. She was wearing a dress Santana had never seen before, it was a black dress that fell just above the dancer's knees. It had long lace sleeves and a deep v neck that showed off just enough cleavage. 

Her blonde hair was pulled into a messy ponytail with her bangs falling just above her eyebrows. Her makeup was light and Santana could already smell the perfume that Brittany saved for special occasions floating through the bedroom. 

Santana watched for a second more as she watched her wife try and secure a necklace around her neck. The brunette set her purse on the ground and slowly approached the blonde. Santana found herself standing behind Brittany, taking the ends of the necklace from the blonde. After placing a kiss at the base of Brittany’s neck Santana did up the necklace.

Brittany turned around in Santana’s arms and the Latina noticed that the necklace she had done up was the one she had given Brittany for Christmas the past year. Santana looked at the necklace with the two stones that would hopefully turn into three soon before she finally looked at the blonde. 

“You look stunning babe,” Santana said kissing Brittany. As their lips parted Santana kept her arms wrapped around the taller woman’s neck. “I’ve never seen you in this dress before, is it new?” 

“Sort of,” Brittany said settling her hands on Santana’s hips. “I’ve had it for a few months but I’ve just been waiting for the right occasion to break it out.” 

“Well I don’t know how I’m going to top this but I guess I can find something in my closet that will have to do,” Santana said turning towards the en-suite bathroom. “Do I have time to take a quick shower before we leave?” 

“Only if you make it super quick, our reservation is for 5:45.” 

“It’ll be the fastest shower I’ve ever taken,” Santana said as she closed the bathroom door. Once Brittany heard her wife humming to herself as the water ran, she walked into the guest bedroom and grabbed the red dress that had been hanging all day out of the closet. The blonde laid it on the bed along with a sticky note that read “Wear me ;)” and headed back to the living room. 

Santana emerged from the bathroom no more than seven minutes later. She was wrapped in a towel while she used another one to dry her hair enough to blow dry it. As she walked towards her side of the dresser the dress that Brittany had left caught her eye. 

Santana picked up the note and smiled as she looked at the dress. She always had a feeling that Brittany looked through the many items she would put in her cart while shopping but it was confirmed now. Santana rushed back to the bathroom to get ready, giddily to put on the dress her wife had bought her. 

After blow-drying and curling her hair and putting on some makeup Santana finally slipped into the dress. The red body con dress had long sleeves and stopped just above her knees, it also had a keyhole cut out right above her breasts. After slipping on some nude pumps, both her wedding rings and the bar necklace with the pair's wedding date engraved in it that Brittany had got her for their anniversary the year before she thought she was ready to go. 

But then she remembered the sneakers and lion in her purse. She slipped off her heels and snuck into the office where they kept all the random gift bags for birthdays or other non-Christmas gift-giving holidays and started to dig through the selection. After finding a bag that was suitable for the presents she jogged back to the bedroom, put the items in the bag, and put the bag into her purse. 

Santana slipped her shoes back on, grabbed her purse, and walked into the living room where Brittany was playing with Stevie. 

“Wow. Just wow,” Brittany said pushing herself off the floor and taking a few steps towards Santana. “You look stunning Santana.” 

“Well, I have to thank you for stalking my shopping carts and buying this for me.” 

“It was nothing. BLP and I wanted to spoil mami tonight so we thought we should get you a nice new dress and take you to Mario’s down the street,” Brittany said watching Santana’s face light up at the announcement of them going to her favorite restaurant. 

“Really?!?” Santana said voice dripping with excitement. 

“Really sweetheart. Let me go grab my shoes and then we will head over there.” 

Santana grabbed Brittany’s wrist as she went to leave, “I love you so much baby.” 

“I love you too Santana.” 

* * *

It was relatively warm for April in New York City so the pair decided to walk to the restaurant. Brittany, who hated to carry a purse, had slipped her wallet into Santana’s purse like she always did as they were leaving the apartment. Santana held her breath hoping that the blonde didn’t notice the gift bag. And either she did and chose not to say anything or fully didn’t notice made Santana extremely happy. 

When they arrived at the restaurant and the hostess asked the name for the reservation, Santana felt her heart flutter hearing Brittany say their hyphenated last name. Even after being married for years, hearing Brittany refer to herself as Brittany Lopez-Pierce made Santana turn into an instant puddle. 

Once they were seated and both turned down a glass of wine, Brittany for obvious reasons and Santana because she had made a promise to Brittany that she wouldn’t drink as long as she couldn’t. They ordered rather quickly and began talking about their respective days. 

“So I went to lunch with Quinn today,” Santana said, pulling a breadstick apart after Brittany had told her about the issues she and Chelsea were having with the venue for their spring recital. She handed half to Brittany before taking a bite of her own. 

“I didn’t know you had plans with her.” 

“I didn’t. She called me this morning and asked if I wanted to get lunch since the two of us haven’t been over to hers and Rachels for a while.” 

A brief look of panic crossed the blonde's face and subconsciously her hand found her stomach. 

“You didn’t tell her about—” Brittany said trailing off. 

“No I would never tell her without you there,” Santana said taking Brittany’s free hand in hers on top of the table. “I just told her that things were crazy at work for the two of us but that we should be back to coming over on Fridays soon.” 

“We should start hanging out with them again, I miss them. I think the last time I saw any of them was when we moved Quinn into Rachel’s.” 

“We totally can start going back over there babe, as long as you are feeling fine we will. But that’s not the only thing Q told me.” 

“Ooo what else is going on?” 

“She is going to propose to Rachel.” 

“Oh my god really?” Brittany said as the waiter brought them their plates. “Rachel hasn’t even been divorced for a year yet.” 

“I know but apparently they have talked about it and Rachel wants to marry Quinn and vice versa so Quinn is going to make it happen. But that’s not all of it.” 

Brittany looked at Santana to continue as she took another bite of her pasta. 

“Quinn wants me to help her find Berry a ring.” 

“Well, I can understand why,” Brittany said, taking a sip of her water. “You have great taste.” 

“Yeah but I’m always buying for you and I know what you like.” 

“And Quinn knows what Rachel likes. I’m sure the two of you can find her a gorgeous ring.” 

“No ring will ever top the ones that are on our fingers,” Santana said. “I’ll make sure Berry’s is good but not as good as ours.” 

“Of course you will,” Brittany said with a smile. 

Once the two women had finished their dinner, Santana excused herself to use the restroom. When she came back a piece of chocolate cake from the restaurant sat in the middle of the table. 

“Britt you didn’t have to get cake,” Santana said sitting down. 

“Yes I did,” Brittany started. “Tonight is about me showing you how grateful I am for you. You were a trooper when we were doing the IVF, with the shots and everything. I know that things are just now getting started but BLP and I love you so much and even though you know that we wanted to spoil you tonight.” 

“Well I accept the spoiling,” Santana said putting a piece of cake in her mouth. “I love you both too, more than anything. Which is why I did this.” 

Santana reached into her purse and pulled out the small gift bag. 

“Santana tonight is supposed to be about you, you didn’t need to get me anything.” 

“This isn’t for you. Well not really,” Santana said sliding the bag across the table. “Go ahead, open it.” 

Santana held her breath as Brittany pulled the bag onto her lap and looked into it. When she looked back up at the Latina there were some tears in her eyes. 

“I know it is still early but I wanted to make sure that we got a jump on not only BLP’s stuffed animal collection but also their shoe closet,” Santana said as she watched Brittany pull the lion and pair of sneakers out of the bag. “No child of mine is going to wear ugly shoes or have a shitty stuffed animal collection. Only the best for them.” 

“Tana I don’t know what to say other than thank you. This is perfect. You are perfect.” 

Santana got up from her side of the booth they were seated in and moved over to sit next to Brittany. The blonde leaned and kissed the brunette, showing her how she felt. 

“Why did you choose a lion?” 

“I don’t really know, I just was looking at all the options and it just felt right. But can we talk about how cute these sneakers are? I got these because no matter if we have a son or daughter they can wear them.” 

“They are very cute. But do you know what is cuter?” 

Santana held up the little lion once again, not knowing where Brittany was going with her question. 

“You are,” Brittany said leaning in for another kiss. “Both BLP and I love you so much.” 

“I love you both too,” Santana said resting her hand on Brittany’s still flat abdomen. “But I think it’s time to pay the bill and get you home because you need all the sleep you can get so BLP can be a strong dancer like her mama.” 

“Oh so you think it's a girl,” Brittany said, allowing Santana to slide the two of them out of the booth. Brittany put the items back into the gift bag as Santana laid some bills from her wallet into the bill holder on the table. 

“I haven’t really thought about it, and I’ll be happy either way but deep down I really feel like BLP is a girl.” 

“Well I think BLP is a boy,” Brittany said, taking Santana’s hand in hers as they started their walk back home. 

“We should bet on it,” Santana said with a laugh. 

“We aren’t going to bet on our future child Santana,” Brittany said swatting her wife. 

“I’m not saying we bet money on them,” Santana said, stopping and looking at her wife. “What about this, if BLP is a girl I get to choose her middle name but if it's a boy you get to choose his middle name?” 

“Not their first name?” 

“Nope. I want that one to be something we decide on together. So do we have a deal?” Santana said, extending her hand for the dancer to shake. 

Brittany thought for a minute before she shook her wife's hand. “We do. But we tell no one. I don’t want people to think we are shitty parents for making a bet on our unborn baby.” 

“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t,” Santana said as they started walking back to their apartment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'm hoping to update more often but things in my life are still crazy but I'm not abandoning this! 
> 
> As always I want to thank Brittany (@proudly-so on tumblr) for the constant support and letting me bounce countless ideas off of her!
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr @sandbagslopez if you ever want to talk about the fic or anything Glee related!
> 
> Please leave your comment and kudos too!


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